The Winds of Altair - Ben Bova

With Earth struggling with too few resources for too many people, Jeff Holman heard the call to colonize the stars. Jeff signed up hoping for adventure, and hoping he could help save Earth's teeming masses by creating a new world: Altair VI. Jeff is determined to make Altair a haven for the human race before Earth collapses.

But Altair VI isn't making it easy. The atmosphere needs to be terraformed, and the plant has a flourishing ecology that isn't giving in. Living in a space station orbiting the planet, the scientists atttempt to wrest control of the planet by directly controlling the toughest beast at the top of the food chain: the Wolfcat. Jeff's job is to take over the mind of a wolfcat and bend it to his will.

Only Jeff learns a heart-wrenching secret from the wolfcat, a secret that leads to even deeper secrets that could unravel the entire plan to save humanity.