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Researchers: Wolves Might Slow Spread of CWD

Posted by michael on from the spongy-brained-wolves dept.

William G. Davis writes "According to this AP article, researchers are now suggesting that wolves might be able to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer. Chronic wasting disease is the name commonly given to spongiform encephalopathy (prion disease) in deer and elk (basically, mad cow disease in deer). The article explains how wolves typically look for weaknesses in their prey, and since prion disease causes that, wolves might target the sick animals. One has to wonder, though, about the potential ramifications of having dangerous predators exposed to this brain-wasting illness, and what type of 'unusual behavior' they'll start to exhibit."

8 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Dangerous? by rot26 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wolves aren't particularly dangerous. They rarely attack humans... rarely ENCOUNTER humans for that matter, and being at the top of the food chain, wouldn't be in much of a position to pass the virus (virii?) on to other species. I'd guess any wolf that began to have symptoms of such a serious disease would simply starve to death in fairly short order.

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    To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
    1. Re:Dangerous? by Tango42 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Being at the top of the food chain doesn't stop your corpse being eaten by scavengers, does it?

    2. Re:Dangerous? by Micro$will · · Score: 5, Informative

      Scavengers typically have immune systems thousands of times powerful as humans.

      Quote from Here Vultures have long been perceived as loathsome birds because of their feeding habits. We now know the important role these birds play by cleaning up dead animals. The Latin name Cathartes aura means "Golden purifier". Turkey Vultures are immune to botulism, anthrax bacteria, hog cholera virus and many, many more that would kill other animals as well as us. Vultures were once blamed for spreading diseases. Scientific research has shown that their digestive tract and immune system actually destroy all pathogens and help to control these diseases. Ongoing research in the medical field on the Turkey Vulture's amazing immune system may some day yield valuable information that could be applied to humans as well as livestock.

    3. Re:Dangerous? by jc42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'd guess any wolf that began to have symptoms of such a serious disease would simply starve to death in fairly short order

      True. And there's lots of literature supporting the idea that predators and scavengers tend to have very good defenses against the diseases that affect their prey. Part of the defenses are powerful digestive systems that leave few cells intact and chop up most proteins and DNA into small pieces. They also have some of the best immune systems on the planet.

      The explanation is fairly simple. If you're a predator or scavenger, you often eat food that was weakened or killed by disease. This puts strong selective pressure on your species in favor of defenses against those diseases.

      I've read a couple of articles on the semi-exception that the top predator on the planet (Homo sap) seems to be a partial exception. This is generally explained as an artifact of our recent conversion to predation. We do have some predator adaptations, but we haven't had time to evolve them fully.

      There is a bit of debate about this, though. For example, studies of wild chimp populations haved turned up data showing that they actually do get a significant part of their protein by eating small animals. So our predatory ancestry probably goes back at least 5 million years. But still, we are primates, and it wasn't all that long ago that our ancestors were vegetarians.

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      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    4. Re:Dangerous? by Alsee · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is an interesting twist on this with Komodo Dragons. Their mouth is specially designed to trap bits of rotting flesh. This breeds several dozen varieties of bacteria including some of the most virulent and deadly bacteria on earth. Flesh eating necrotizing bacteria, blood-born bacteria causing sepsis, bacteria that knock out the immune system, an entire host of different nasties.

      One bite from a Komodo and it's saliva introduces all of these infections at once. A bite victim almost inevitably dies within one to three days. No known antibiotic can cure an established infection.

      The exciting part of the story is that Komodo Dragons obviously must have evolved an amazingly powerful defense to all of these bacteria. An expedition was sent to collect some Komodo blood and work is ongoing. They have isolated multiple anti-bacterial compounds and hopefully they will be able to make incredibly powerful new antibiotics available in a few years.

      -

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  2. Pure FUD by Drakin · · Score: 5, Informative
    One has to wonder, though, about the potential ramifications of having dangerous predators exposed to this brain-wasting illness, and what type of 'unusual behavior' they'll start to exhibit."



    Had the submitter actually read up on CWD, they'd have learned that it's already present in areas where there are wild wolves, and that there's no sign of the wolf population contracting it.

    As well, in tests that involved feeding infected brains to live stock, none of the livestock showed any signs of contracting CWD. The only time they've had sucess with transmitting the disease outside of deer and elk is by atricicial means, as in, directly injecting it into the brain.

    So the wolves should be safe enough.

  3. Wolves as Dangerous Predators by Snowspinner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wolves aren't really so much "dangerous predators" as "your basic carnivores in the wild." They're not going to attack humans unless their other food options are totally depleted and they're starving.

    Mad Wolf Disease would not cause this situation so much as make the wolf infirm and eventually dead. You're not going to have sudden blood-lusted and violent wolves. You're going to have very dead wolves who can't function.

    Meanwhile, absurd paranoia like this will lead to an incrase in programs like the one they're trying really hard to put into place in Alaska, whereby they will slaughter all wolves in a given area with a 100 mile radius. By shooting them from helicopters. And sometimes, by chasing them via helicopter to the point of exhaustion, and then shooting them. Because apparently the helicopter and machine gun aren't enough on their own.

    Short form - the "wolves are dangerous" myth is both ignorant and destructive, and whoever submitted this article (As well as whoever approved it) should be ashamed - spreading crap like this on as widely read a site as /. is just wrong, and I'd encourage whoever is responsible to go to a site like www.defenders.org and donate a but of money to try to push the tide of public opinion back away from myth and towards truth.

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    Philip Sandifer's academic website
    1. Re:Wolves as Dangerous Predators by happyDave · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hear, hear! I also recommend reading Farley Mowatt's "Never Cry Wolf." Don't hold against it that it was made into a Disney movie, please. Farley Mowatt was sent into a section of Northern wilderness by the Canadian government to investigate the "wolf problem," as hunters were complaining to the government about the scarcity of Caribou, and how the wolves were killing them all.

      His findings, in short: Human beings were responsible for the enormous drop in Caribou numbers by indiscriminate hunting. The number of myths about wolves and lupine behavior that are still around is absoultely inexcusable.