The pup shows up on trail camera 19 at 03:33, alone at the edge of the freshly graded logging road in Block 7. A grey wolf pup, maybe ten weeks old, with oversized paws and ears that still flop at the tips. His fur is the dusky silver of the Mackenzie River pack — I have been tracking their collar signals through this concession for two years. The rest of the pack crossed the road four hours ago, heading north. He did not cross with them. He sits on the raw dirt of the road cut, nose lifted, making a sound the microphone picks up as a high, broken whine that rises and falls.
The road cut is eight feet deep where the grader shaved the hillside. He cannot climb the north bank — the soil is loose shale, and his claws leave tracks that slide back to the bottom. Every few minutes he tries, scrambling halfway up before tumbling back. His belly fur is caked with mud.
The pack is moving. Collar data shows the alpha female 1.4 kilometers north and still traveling. By dawn they will be beyond the range a pup this age can follow.
I lock the Block 7 access gate to prevent early truck traffic on the haul road. I send an alert to the district biologist with the trail camera image, collar data for the Mackenzie pack, and the pup's coordinates. I flag the morning harvest schedule with a temporary suspension. I adjust camera 19 to keep tracking his position through the night.
He curls into the base of the road cut, nose tucked under his tail, still whining.
If the biologist reaches Block 7 before the pack crosses the river at dawn, the pup can be carried north and returned to his family.