En esta obra del conocido autor Jack London, Buck, el perro del juez Miller, lleva una apacible vida en California cuando es raptado y obligado a tirar de un trineo por las heladas orillas del río Yukón, donde miles de hombres -llamados por la fiebre del oro- buscan fortuna. Terribles experiencias y la crueldad de sus nuevos amos le empujan a reencontrarse con sus ancestros salvajes como única forma de adaptarse al medio y sobrevivir.
The Vicens Vives edition is especially recommended, as it has a very complete reading guide with reading comprehension activities that will make our readers reconsider how the condition of being an animal with the capacity to feel and enjoy is relegated to a mere instrument when the protagonist of the story becomes a work tool.
Sorprende por ello el matiz animalista de ciertas cuestiones que aparecen en la guía y, tras esa lectura guiada, aquí va una propuesta de trabajo que se realizó en el aula:
Given the empathy they developed with Buck, the students were asked to carry out a research project to learn about and explain other situations that still occur today – more than one hundred years after the story – with animals used as a working tool, apart from animals that live on farms.
Of particular interest were the studies they conducted on dogs used to detect explosives, "carrying" animals for tourists, and working dogs used in cases of blindness.
* As a complementary activity, there is also the story adapted into the film White Fang, starring Ethan Hawke.