Local author brings to life story of a special wolf

By Rob Vogt
A very special wolf is the subject of Claresholm author David Poulsen’s latest book.
“The Unlikely Hero: The Story of Wolf 8” came out earlier this spring.
However, the genesis of the book goes back to the work of a wolf expert named Rick McIntyre, who lives just outside Yellowstone National Park.
Back in 1926, the American government decided to eliminate wolves from Yellowstone National Park, despite it being their natural habitat.
They were gone until 1995 when the government realized, after seeing the elk population explode, that had been a mistake.
Consequently the government decided to re-introduce wolves to the park.
The wolves used were actually Canadian, from up around Hinton, Alberta.
There were three packs, with a total of 14 wolves, and each one was given a number and tracked.
“They began the re-population of Yellowstone National Park,” Poulsen said.
McIntyre began to observe and chronicle the lives of these wolves then wrote books about some of these wolves in particular.
The publisher contacted Poulsen to see if he would be interested in turning some of these books into young adult fiction, targeted at students Grades 4 to 8.
“I’ll give it a try,” Poulsen said.
One of the animals, Wolf 8, was the runt of the litter and was bullied quite a bit in his youth. However, he grew to be one of the biggest alpha males among the wolves.
He is the subject of McIntyre’s non-fiction book, “The Rise of Wolf 8”.
Poulsen noted McIntyre observed wolves are the closest to humans in the way they interact with family.
Poulsen is reminded of a story about a female wolf, who was staying in an enclosure.
A woman came by the enclosure with a baby in a carriage.
The baby started crying.
The wolf then got some meat and tried to push it under the fence to help the baby.
“There are parallels between wolves and humans,” Poulsen said.
Moreover, he wrote the book with McIntyre looking over his shoulder to ensure accuracy.
McIntyre was specific there were to be no talking or dancing wolves, or gimmicks like that.
However, Poulsen said kids need to relate to wolves. McIntyre was fine with that, as long as it was realistic.
The result is “The Unlikely Hero: The Story of Wolf 8”.
“For the most part it’s his (McIntyre’s) book re-written,” Poulsen said.
In it, Wolf 8 leaves his pack at a young age and meets another pack.
The male wolf in that pack was shot the day a litter was born to a female.
The wolves were all initially put in enclosures so they could acclimate to Yellowstone National Park.
The pups would not survive long without a male. So, the female and nine pups were put back in an enclosure.
“They were fine,” said Poulsen.
Then along comes Wolf 8, who hooks up with the female.
“He becomes the adoptive father of those pups,” Poulsen said.
One was called Wolf 21.
The publisher has since offered Poulsen a contract for two additional books in a series they are calling “Chronicles of the Yellowstone Wolves”.
The second book, “A Time of Legends: The Story of Two Fearless Wolves – and One Rebel”, is about Wolf 21, then another one, Wolf 302, and will be coming out in the Spring of 2025.
“The Unlikely Hero: The Story of Wolf 8,” is in bookstores now. The Claresholm Public Library also has a copy.
“There’s a lot of amazing stuff about wolves that I think will resonate with kids,” Poulsen said.
Anyone interested in more information can e-mail David Poulsen at poulsend@telusplanet.net.