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I was talking with some local Montana hunters and they did not like the wolf presence. Not only do wolves tend to skip out on the ample deer population and focu
by sethammons 3y ago
I was talking with some local Montana hunters and they did not like the wolf presence. Not only do wolves tend to skip out on the ample deer population and focus on elk and moose (thus reducing the availability of the prized game meat), but also that the introduction of the wolves also introduced wasting disease.
Wasting disease is awful and you do not want to eat affected animals. The disease requires both ungulates and the wolves as the parasite lives out part of its life in each.
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/people-predators/wolves-and-disease-8-006/ https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/people-predators...
I think it would be expected that any group with increased contact would support additional wolf hunting. The general population dropping in support is likely due to the large population growth and not being familiar with the issue and simply not liking the idea of majestic wolves being killed.
Edit: Looks like I was mixing CWD with the tapeworm parasites and CWD is related to prions
- xyzwave 3y ago> the introduction of the wolves also introduced wasting disease. Doesn't look like it, from the CDC: > CWD was first identified in captive deer in a Colorado research facility in the late 1960s, and in wild deer in 1981. https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/occurrence.html https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/occurrence.html
- sethammons 3y agoI should rephrase: introduced to Montana. When there were no wolves in Montana, there was no waiting disease in the local deer, moose, and elk population; at least not enough to matter. Now many hunters wont touch meat with their bare skin until it has been tested.
- bjtitus 3y agoIt's simply false that wasting disease "requires wolves" to propagate. This has been known and studied for many years [0][1]. It's been a large problem here in Colorado for decades despite no wolf population (up until the last few months). If you would like to learn more, I'd encourage you to read Colorado Parks & Wildlife's management report [2] which includes a lot of good sources and background about its history, epidemiology, and current mitigation plans. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2691594/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2691594/ [1] https://meridian.allenpress.com/jwd/article/34/3/532/122239/EPIDEMIOLOGY-OF-CHRONIC-WASTING-DISEASE-IN-CAPTIVE https://meridian.allenpress.com/jwd/article/34/3/532/122239/... [2] https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/BigGame/CWD/PDF/ColoradoChronicWastingDiseaseResponsePlan.pdf https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/BigGame/CWD/PDF/Co...
- sethammons 3y agoThanks for the info. Looks like I was mixing CWD with the tapeworm parasites and CWD is related to prions
- COGlory 3y agoCWD is not a parasite and wolves don't carry it. You might have it mixed up with worms.
- COGlory 3y agoLocal Montana hunter - I'm a big fan of wolves. They help stop wasting disease by killing and eating sick animals, preventing them from spreading it. They also reduce elk herd sizes that helps prevent overcrowding of water sources and further disease. Most hunters that complain about wolves are uninformed and/or bad hunters. EDIT: Or they're hunting private land and are upset they now have competition that might chase the elk herd off.
- sethammons 3y agoBeing backwards hunters is def a possibility. But hard to argue against wolves as the source since that is how the parasite works. The other effects like preventing overcrowding should be beneficial and especially help waterways as their vegetation on the banks is allowed to grow and mature .