Tales from an urban wilderness

"Scott Holingue, a native Chicagoan, ranges the North Pond section of Lincoln daily, either alone or accompanied by one or more of his four dogs, all of them leashed, in a search for ailing, wounded or maltreated animals. The help he offers is immediate and in the past dozen years or so has cost him thousands of dollars." "Tales from an Urban Wilderness, written with a Tribune colleague, Kenan Heise, is a combination of anecdote relating to Holingue's continuing efforts to aid the bird and animal residents of Lincoln Park, and descriptions of some of the human frequenters of the same area, including a surprising number of homeless persons. "The result is a fascinating below-the-surface look at another world, one whose sufferings and problems, tragedy and humor, usually are unseen by the thoughtless or the uncaring. Holingue has an on-going campaign against the human and inhumane enemies of the North Pond's ducks, turtles, squirrels, cats, abandoned pets, and a surprising variety of other non-human life. He also resents the city's habit of cutting down too many trees, then turning the wood into sawdust and removing it, instead of permitting fallen trunks and branches to serve as a shelter for the area's wildlife. "So, if you are wear of searching through bound-to-bore titles which clutter up the book-stores these days, give Tales from an Urban Wilderness a chance. It's a sleeper that will keep you awake." -by Robert Cromie (From the preface)