American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West

Rick is the main human protagonist and works under Doug Smith for the Wolf Project. He is a park guide, a wolf-spotter, and a longtime wolf fan who first fell in love with the animals when working at Denali National Park in Alaska. Rick has written extensively about the animals, but for most of this story, he is hamstrung by his obsessive need to watch the wolves every day, taking copious notes about their behavior. Blakeslee tends to juxtapose Rick with the wolves he is watching—for example, 755 after O-Six’s death—which likens Rick to a wandering wolf in search of a pack. This he finds somewhat despite himself, as he becomes the heart of Yellowstone’s wolf-watching community.

Doug Smith is the Wolf Project’s chief biologist and was part of the original reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995. Though he is rarely a point-of-view character in the story, he does play a couple of useful roles. For one, he is something of the “straight man” to Rick’s more eccentric and emotional personality. The two men clearly have different attitudes, yet Blakeslee shows them bonding over the deaths of both 21 and O-Six. Although they have different approaches to the wolves, they share a love for them—something Smith evokes at Rick’s party in the Epilogue. Smith is also involved, at least tangentially, in the politics around wolves and the park. His ability to stay neutral as hunters slay the animals to whom he has dedicated his life is sorely tested.

Turnbull is the story’s main human antagonist, the Crandall hunter who kills O-Six. Turnbull scrapes out a living in Crandall after several failed business ventures so he can pursue his one true passion: hunting. He often hunts with a bow and tries to practice a code of getting as close to his quarry as possible before killing it. Although this might suggest a certain respect or harmony with nature, Turnbull states in no uncertain terms that he does regret killing O-Six and that he is very anti-wolf. While Turnbull is the easy focus for the reader’s ire, it should be noted that he is one hunter among dozens evoked in the story. There is hostility to the wolves from all levels of local society, from rich ranchers and opportunistic politicians to hard-up folk like Turnbull. He merely serves as the face for these antagonistic forces lining up against the park’s wolves.

O-Six, a wolf but still a key figure in this story, is a lean, powerful gray who is perfectly attuned to the park’s wilds and seemingly built to prosper like few wolves before her. She comes from a line of some of the park’s most successful females (her great grandmother was one of its original Canadian wolves) and battles hostile rivals to carve out a home for her pack in the Lamar Valley. Blakeslee treads a careful line with O-Six, showing her behavior in a way that allows readers to sympathize with and root for her, but without ascribing too many human traits to her. Still, by showing her caring for her pups, for example, or striving to feed them, Blakeslee identifies behavior that resonates with human readers and allows them to see something of themselves in the animal protagonist. If Rick is a little like a wolf, then O-Six is a little like a human. This similarity is one of Blakeslee’s major themes.

A retired teacher who moves to Silver Gate to watch wolves full time, Laurie is a confidant and friend to Rick. She even helps him navigate awkward social interactions, as he can be a little brusque with park visitors. She is vital part of the community or “pack” around Rick. It is also significant that she writes daily online updates about the Yellowstone wolves, as her posts play a role in the emerging fight to control the narrative over wolves. Indeed, they foreshadow a wider battle, especially online, to draw lines in the so-called “culture wars” over different visions of America, which plays into the political story beyond the park and the life of one wolf.

A wolf-watcher and Rick’s other main friend in the story, Doug often helps Rick locate wolves and goes the extra mile to keep Rick’s streak of wolf sightings going. More than that, Doug possesses a degree of savvy that Rick doesn’t, especially in his commercial dealings. He sells scopes to park-goers and also pulls in endorsement deals for Rick. This commercial sensibility is important, as it helps wolf-watchers push back against one of anti-wolf activists’ most common refrains, namely that wolves are bad for the local economy. McLaughlin also takes matters into his own hands with guerilla efforts to deter hunters. This serves as an important example of how frustrated conservationists are by the killing of the park’s animal).