"Nothing in nature, so long as it is honestly observed and honestly described, can harm the mind of a child. Almost all the ills of the human race may be traced to the fact that it has strayed too far from nature and knows too little of the natural order of things . . . let them read and understand the ways of animals and birds, of water and wind and earth; for these things are pure and true and unspoiled."
--Roderick Haig-Brown

Ki-Yu roams the full length of Vancouver Island's Wapiti Valley without fear, hunting deer, visiting females, and using his cunning and strength to evade famed cougar hunter David Milton with his shotgun and barking dogs. Evocative of Jack London's White Fang, Panther captures the harsh reality of the Vancouver Island setting with Haig-Brown's skillful, unadorned prose, telling an enthralling-- and often bloody--story of elusive wild cats and the timber wolves, bears, blacktail deer and humans who are all led by instinct as they struggle for survival in an unforgiving wilderness.