Are we overlooking hydatid spread from wolves?

[Wrench]

I've been watching our whitetail herd vanish. I have seen 100's of deer die off. The game department is pushing this as CWD....however in discussion with the biologist, she said they found 4 specimens testing positive so far in the last few YEARS of collecting samples.....including mandatory sampling.

EHD is a more likely potential....but I am seeing the die offs occurring in areas that tend to be heavily wolf predated, which has me wondering if perhaps what we're seeing is the wolves spreading hydatid and the deer responding to this by dying a slow miserable death.

I haven’t seen any studies to link the die offs....but symptoms AND locations tend to point to the potential.....and because it would be due to the wolves, I know the biologists are never going to entertain the idea.

Anyone looked into this?

 

[menhaden_man]

Just had a look since I used to hunt that area in late 2000s/early 2010s (Kettle Falls).

Sounds like you are correct in that CWD is unlikely (low rate of prevalence and slow die offs) and EHD is probably it. Hadn’t looked at hydatid-related deaths. From a quick look, it seems like it’s well established in wolves but a tapeworm that’d have to get from the feces to the deer while browsing? I’d guess the possibility is there though large die-offs don’t seem as likely as EHD.

On a side note, I vaguely remember the nematode issue in northern Great Lakes infecting deer by a similar mechanism (I think snails were the culprit). Don’t know where that went - it was the late 90s when I was up there.

But you’re correct about DFW - my direct experience with wolf expansion was they’ll make any excuse possible to eliminate them as a possible problem.

Also crazy to see how CWD is pushed as the end of the world in many areas while most folks are not even familiar with EHD.

 

[menhaden_man]

Also, I read that coyotes can carry something similar? Those bastards are everywhere.