Wilkinson Part 9, Do wolves, cougars help curb diseases?

[katqanna]

Todd wades into the very controversial subject of predators effect on wildlife disease management, which may rile some. I have only recently been learning the mountain lion aspects here in MT.

Do wolves, cougars help curb diseases?, Part 9 in a series on wildlife diseases in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by Todd Wilkinson

Wolves aren’t alone. In a 2009 study titled “Mountain lions prey selectively on prion-infected mule deer,” researchers in Colorado discovered that “adult mule deer killed by mountain lions were more likely to be prion-infected than were deer killed more randomly … suggesting that mountain lions were selecting for infected individuals when they targeted adult deer.”...
Wyoming doesn’t accept this scientific reality. In Jackson Hole, where unnatural feeding of wapiti on the National Elk Refuge is contributing to persistent brucellosis infection and putting migrating elk at high CWD risk, wolves are killed under the ironic guise of “keeping elk herds healthy.”