YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Widowed wildlife biologist Brian Hu, once a devoted husband and father, now shares custody of his 6-year-old son, Lobo, with the pack of wolves that hunted and consumed the flesh of his wife.
The saga began with a hike—a seemingly innocuous outing that would forever alter the course of Brian’s life. Dr. Emily Hu, Brian’s wife and fellow biologist, had taken Lobo into the wild while Brian remained at their research station, doing scientist stuff with the data collected by the husband and wife team. She planned on checking in on some game cameras near a wolf den, but didn’t count on being brutally mauled by the very pack of animals she had dedicated her life to studying.
Emily’s partially consumed and mutilated body was discovered near a common data collection site. The wolves, her beloved subjects, had turned on her. For over a year, Lobo remained missing, lost in the vast expanse of Yellowstone. Brian, torn between grief and determination, searched relentlessly for his son’s remains, but somehow never had the nerve to check the den where her wife’s carcass had been found.
And then, one crisp morning, liquid courage led him to the den—the very place where Emily had met her tragic end. What he found there defied reason: Lobo, healthy and vibrant, wrestling with wolf pups over a scrap of elk meat. The boy’s laughter mingled with the wild chorus of howls. Brian’s heart shattered anew, even as it soared with the discovery of his traitorous son.
He snatched Lobo from the den just as the female alpha returned, her amber eyes locking onto Brian’s. The wolves circled, their loyalty to the child unyielding. Brian carried his screaming son back to his Subaru, the echoes of their cries haunting him, and denies spraying a full can of bear spray directly into the eyes of every animal in the den.
Slowed only for a short time, the wolves persisted. They lingered near Brian’s small cabin, their mournful howls a constant reminder. Thrown rocks and several cans of bear spray proved futile; these creatures were bound by more than biology—they were bound by the grief of a stolen child, stolen from the man who had the child stolen from him. Other biologists, sympathetic to the heartbroken wolf that believed its child had been stolen, rallied behind the cause, insisting that Hu had no right to keep his son from seeing his adopted fur family.
Enter PETA. Lawyers mobilized, arguing that the wolves had effectively adopted Lobo. Federal Judge Margaret Reynolds, in a precedent-setting ruling, granted visitation rights. Now, every other weekend and on full moons, Lobo returns to the pack. His tracking collar ensures his safety, but it’s a thin line between human and wild.
Brian, conflicted and grieving, grapples with this bizarre coexistence. “They killed my wife,” he whispers, staring into the dark woods where the wolves, protected by federal law, lurk. “Why wouldn’t they eventually kill him too?.” Yet Lobo thrives among them, his laughter blending with their howls. “Mama wolf protects me,” the boy foolishly insists.
During visitations, Lobo sheds his human veneer. Naked and on all fours, he chases down game, feasts on carrion, and rolls in dung. Brian winces at the thought, but he knows this is uncharted territory—the first confirmed interspecies coparenting team. Human privilege must yield to nature’s laws.
As twilight settles over the forest, Brian watches Lobo disappear into the shadows. The wolves surround their adopted child, their loyalty appears to be unwavering. “Maybe, this is how healing begins.” After a brief pause, he continues. “No, wait, that’s too stupid, this is actually messed up. Why are the courts doing this to me? Why is law enforcement going along with it?”
And so, in the heart of Yellowstone, a father and son navigate a world where love and tragedy intertwine—a world where the beasts that destroyed his family now help raise his only son.
Franklin Carson
