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wildlife magazine when we realized we'd lost the sun and needed
to get off the mountain.
I'd already put a leash on Jake, who was a male that
weighed roughly a hundred and twenty pounds. I'd been fostering
him for about six months, but since he was an animal I
hadn't raised myself, our relationship was a somewhat uneasy
one. He clearly regarded me with a certain amount of suspicion.
His enclosure-mate, Jessa, (a spayed female) was still offlead,
and as we approached the road, I grew nervous that she
might run ahead of us and onto the small mountain highway
where we had parked our truck. Each time she'd run by us, I
would try to grab her and miss, and with each attempt she
thought the game was more interesting. She' d been with me
her whole life — I'd literally helped deliver her — so I thought
nothing of lunging for her as she shot past.
The problem was that Jake didn't think this was a game
at all, and I was so focused on getting control of Jessa that I
hadn't noticed how agitated he was growing with my attempts
to capture his mate. Attempts I now realize he interpreted as
aggression.
As Jessa shot by again, I pounced, grabbing a hold of her
scruff so I could get her on a lead. As I did so, Jake attacked.
As luck would have it, he seized my arm that was nearer
his face in what I immediately realized was an all-out attack.
Having been around wolves for about ten years at that
point, I knew the last thing I wanted was to be in a tug of war
with a wolf where my arm was the rope.
With my free arm I grabbed his head and threw my self on
top of him, hoping that by rolling him to the ground, I could
regain control of the situation.
The next forty-five seconds seemed like an eternity. It felt like
I was in three places at once. I could hear my assistant screaming,
I could feel the incredible pain of the bones in my forearm
being crushed by Jake's jaws, and at the same time, there was
a part of my conscious that was completely detached observing
the situation with the cool analytical mind of a scientist.
I distinctly remember this scientist's mind thinking, "He's
much, much stronger than I expected. The pressure is incredible."
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