You know not what you speak. First, I wasn’t the one who started using the term “whack job” in this thread. Hence the clear use of quotation marks.
I saw this article this morning.
wyofile.com
Thanks @Oak. That was an interesting article and I’m glad someone is researching it.I saw this article this morning.
Carnivores and scavengers could help reduce CWD - WyoFile
Bobcats may only deposit a fraction of the infectious prions on the landscape that they eat, early study results show
The biggest issue I had with this is the solution was we have to stick with the same management we have been doing since the 70's.
Aside from the link @Oak posted, I have not seen anything super optimistic about predators and CWD. Because CWD positive animals are likely positive and shedding infectious prions into the environment for some number of months prior to being symptomatic, it’s not clear whether predators will reduce the frequency of infection or not. Because we are talking about a pathogen that is shed and remains infectious in the environment for a long time, it’s kind of unclear right now how much of an impact predators might have on the epidemiology of the disease. The nuances of chronic disease that persists in the environment vs acute disease with direct transmission from animal to animal are vastly different, and the effects of predators under these two scenarios are also likely going to be vastly different.
Thank you.
I think it is possable, maybe even likely that predators like coyotes can detect a CWD positive animal before they ever start to show symptoms. If there is any difference in the smell of a CWD positive animal predators would likely learn fairly quickly that CWD positives are potental target. Dogs can detect cancer in humans long before symptoms show up, could be the same with CWD. Hard to say what the effect would be.
I’ll take the other side of that bet. I’m not even sure why you would say that. I have not seen a lot of corporations throwing money at the problem. Mostly just state agencies. The CWD Research and Management Act will provide funds for a lot of research projects for the next few years.
Certainly possible. Definitely hard to tease these things out, especially when we’re dealing with wild populations on the landscape where it’s impossible to control, or even identify, all the possible variables at work. I guess it’s places like the Ruby that give me pause when it comes to the predator effects. I believe there is a full complement of large carnivores on the landscape in and around that area, and CWD prevalence has jumped to upwards of 75% or something ridiculously high. Why? Are predators not targeting them? Does the high proportion of private land ownership interfere with predators’ effectiveness? Is transmission occurring at such a rate that predation can’t make an appreciable difference? Could it, under different conditions? Is there something else entirely going on?
That makes no sense.
At this point, it is all funded by the government.
Not finding a solution is not failure. We are learning a lot. I think Americans lack patience and just want everything to be solved yesterday. Im willing to listen to “better way forward”. Find me a corporation that thinks there is profit in studying and solving the problem and NOT willing to cash the government check. Even if it jumps species to cattle or people, corporations can’t look far enough into the future to make the NPV work.
The East definitely does not have a full compliment of predators. We have coyotes for sure, but I think they are more likely to prey on small mammals and birds, maybe catch a few fawns in the spring and deer that are in the later stages of disease. Much to neighbor Larry’s disagreeance there is not a lion up every tree in the east and bobcats are going to rely on birds and small mammals like coyotes. The only predator that’s going to significantly affect the population is the 2 legged variety in the east.
