Wolves Dying!?!

[HARPERC]

......It's pretty much like pruning a willow. They just come back better. Should you shoot one to fill your tag? Absolutely. Just pointing out that maximum effort and an itchy trigger finger doesn't trump a good durse of pestilence.............

Unfortunately wolf control, and wolf eradication look exactly the same, only differing in end point.

Poison, especially in the dens gets best results.

Alberta, and BC are spinning their wheels at almost a $million a year trying to save the small caribou herd on our border from extinction.

Alberta was talking going back to poison, as have some other countries.

They do make a beautiful trophy-my luck I'll get a hairless one with the mange.

 

[Mike 338]

Unfortunately wolf control, and wolf eradication look exactly the same, only differing in end point.

Poison, especially in the dens gets best results.

Alberta, and BC are spinning their wheels at almost a $million a year trying to save the small caribou herd on our border from extinction.

Alberta was talking going back to poison, as have some other countries.

They do make a beautiful trophy-my luck I'll get a hairless one with the mange.

Yup...

If you look in the news and read up on the bed bug epidemic in hotels throughout the nation, they already have the answer. They've had it for 60 years. It's DDT. Not real popular amongst the uninformed but isn't that who pulls the strings anyway?

It's basically omelettes and eggs. If you wanna get rid of wolves, you poison them. You'll kill a fair amount of non-target critters but you'll kill wolves too. Call it what you want but it takes people who can deal with what 13 year old girls think about them to get the job done. Or not... Like all totally screwed up things in America, we have to go till it's to late before we decide to do what we should have done a very long time ago. Our legacy is misplaced guilt and inability to act when we should.

Merica.

 

[Pdvdh]

Our wolves on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula got mites from feral dogs 25 years ago. Mites alone never diminished our timber wolf population. The wolves had good hides in early winter, but then by January they'd rub the hair off the top of their backs while scratching the itch caused by the mites.

Our winters last longer than winters anywhere in the 48 states. I think National Geographic is uninformed, or purposely spreading false information.

It is more difficult for the wolves to survive with the loss of fur on the tops of their backs, because it burns more calories and requires additional food intake to keep warm during the winter. So they may be a little skinnier and lighter in weight. It's an additional stresser on wolf survival, but it didn't kill off our wolves. What did reduce our wolf population was a reduced moose population due to a maturing forest. No forest fires since a large 1947 burn, and then a smaller fire in 1968. When the browse grows higher than a moose can reach, their population is reduced. Fewer moose = less food = fewer wolves.

 

[geo4061]

The wolves National Geographic showed had a lot more hair missing than that on the top of their backs. Some looked like they had at least fifty per cent hair loss. Nothing left on their tails and portions of their body where you could see skin. Has anyone seen any of this? Are you seeing fewer wolves? Are you seeing more moose, deer, elk, and other animals? Has there been any change in your area?

 

[Pdvdh]

That sounds like mange rather than lice. Seen red fox like that. Nothing but the tail bone off their butts. They run on tip-toes without the tail to help maintain balance. Saw two one winter in the same general area. Shot one. The second I missed several times on the run.
So mange can also be spread from animal to animal. Wolves being pack animals, any contagious disease is readily transmitted. So within any pack of wolves, one would expect the whole pack to contract either mange or lice. That's why the lice runs rampant once it's initially transmitted from dogs to the wolves.
And there's nothing to prevent an animal from having both lice and mange, to my knowledge. They'll both increase heat loss and stress during cold winter weather. No fur means greater heat loss and rates of winter deaths.

 

[Pdvdh]

I was watching a National Geographic Special on Yellowstone. They said half the wolf packs had died. The cause was a mite. This mite burrows under their their skin and causes their fur to fall out. Much like the Mange. They soon die. They showed pictures and a lot of them looked terrible. Maybe prayers have been answered. Have you seen this? Have you noticed any increase in deer or elk herds?

It sounds like mange because it is mange. I see your first post identified the parasite as mites. Mites cause mange - according to the research I just completed. I misinterpreted the disease that's spreading among the wolf packs in my initial post. Mange is highly contagious and is spread from dog to dog, dogs to wolves, and wolf to wolf. Mange can cause a much greater loss of hair than what was typically seen by the lice infestation in our wolves on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

So my first post in this thread was mistakenly focused on lice, rather than mites/mange.

Here's a link to an informative article on "mange" - based on studies in Yellowstone National Park. Study: Wolves in big packs more likely to survive mange | Open Spaces | trib.com

Mange has been around forever. It won't wipe the wolves out. Otherwise wolves would already have been wiped out - as in extinct. They evolve and find a way to survive. One article I read said mange was purposely introduced into wolves by US biologist back in 1909, in the effort to reduce their population. Yet wolves survived until they were trapped, hunted, and mostly poisoned into extinction in the lower 48 states.

Here' a different link to an article on lice, which is different than mites/mange. Infestation of Lice Among Wild Canids in Alaska.
Infestation of Lice Among Wild Canids in Alaska | Wolf Song of Alaska

 

[geo4061]

Thanks phorwath for the link. Just what I wanted to know. Bears and other animals can also be infected.

 

[sp6x6]

I have seen the least wolf sign this year in the last number of years.I have only seen 2 pair, in different areas.But I also only saw 3 mule deer in 8 all day hunts doing 3000+ vert.Ive seen 7 bucks in one day,same area 7 bulls in a day.I only saw one elk track.This is a wilderness area no roads where I have shot half my elk.REAL SAD

 

[geo4061]

Hate it! I was hoping someone had good news.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Hate it! I was hoping someone had good news.

Having a correction in the number of wolves is a good thing. We had a lot of them. These top end predators are not much fun. This year we have an extraordinary number of hunters and people enjoying the out doors getting mauled and killed by grizzly bears.

Where I hunt elk the migration was not going at all this year so could be part of the reason, but we only saw one wolf. Last year we saw over 20.

Really hoping for a correction in the number of bears, one way or another.

Steve

 

[geo4061]

Hate it! was directed at the lack of game spotted by sp. I hoped the decline in wolves would help the elk and deer herds. Hoped you all that live in these areas had noticed a difference. Was the winter so mild that there was no elk migration? Plus maybe this warmer winter caused the bears not to den up? Just guessing.

 

[sp6x6]

Are state is obviously large and separated by the continental divide. That kept the wolf apart a bit in the beginning.The East side as a majority is more open an side is steep and has the plains also,but woods are more open and less rain.The West side is steep and deep and contains the BOB and Great Bear Wilderness.These wolfs prospered and very hard to hunt do to thick timber and access.I think some areas i hunt in south part of NW are coming back a bit,very slow process.

 

[J E Custom]

Disease is "the" factor in canine population reduction. To many dogs... disease takes over and populations crash. disease and poison are the only real controls that have ever worked.

There "MITE" be one more. Ha Ha

J E CUSTOM

 

[geo4061]

Just read about Wisconsin having a large wolf population which is increasing rapidly. What's up?