The Wild Huskies are minor antagonists in Jack London's 1903 short adventure novel The Call of the Wild. They are a race of wild dogs that live in the Yukon. They have been responsible for many attacks and deaths of Buck's sled team, such as the death of Curly and Dolly's rabid infection.
History
Shortly after the dogs' trip to the Klondike on the Narwal ship, the wild huskies begin to attack Curly as she tried to make friends with Spitz. Buck saw Spitz laugh as he saw Francois spring his axe into the mess of the wild huskies. Three men with clubs were helping him to scatter them. It did not take long.
Two minutes from the time Curly went down, the last of her assailants were clubbed off. But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody, trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breed standing over her and cursing horribly. The scene often came back to Buck to trouble him in his sleep. Spitz laughed again, and from that moment Buck hated him with a bitter and deathless hatred.
Later, when Buck prepares himself to challenge Spitz, the wild huskies return and attack the sled dogs. Dub was badly injured in a hind leg; Dolly, the last husky added to the team at Yea, had a badly torn throat; Joe had lost an eye; while Billee cried and whimpered throughout the night. At daybreak they limped warily back to camp, to find the marauders gone and the two men in bad tempers.
Fully half their grub supply was gone. The huskies had chewed through the sled lashings and canvas coverings. In fact, nothing, no matter how remotely eatable, had escaped them. They had eaten a pair of Perrault's moose-hide moccasins, chunks out of the leather traces, and even two feet of lash from the end of Francois's whip. He broke from a mournful contemplation of it to look over his wounded dogs.
After some time, Dolly started to get rabies and went mad. As she began to chase Buck, Francois saved his life by swinging his axe on Dolly's head, putting her out of her misery.
Trivia
- Although it was the huskies who killed Curly, Spitz was the one who killed her in many other versions.
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