A young artist's life with wolf cub (3)

（China Daily）  08:33, January 18, 2013  

Afraid of being bitten, Li watched the cub from a distance and randomly uttered several howls of lament. The little wolf reacted and leaned into her embrace, and Li savored the connection.

Fighting a high fever, the cub was weak. Li decided to take him to the city for treatment and adopt him. She named him "Green", homophonic to the Grimm brothers, whose tales feature a lot of bad wolves.

"I hope my Green will rewrite the bad wolf tales," Li says. "Wolves are smart and dignified, and even humane."

Li had saved many homeless dogs before she took in the wolf cub. But this was different.

"He bites ferociously, without regard for hurting the feeder," she says.

When the cub was a month old, Li started to take Green out for exercise. Green refused to be chained or be dragged by the chain.

"To protest, he once frayed his belly against the cement ground when I dragged him," she says.

She says the two later "agreed" on the chaining but only for pretence. Green would decide which way they would walk, and he'd take the lead.

To hide the wolf from her parents, Li moved Green to the house of her friend Yi Feng, who offered encouragement.

Li read a lot to gain knowledge on feeding Green; she even e-mailed international conservation organizations abroad for information.

Among the written resources, Wolf Totem has inspired her a great deal.