Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Disease ravaging MN wolf pups

http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=4919

Disease ravaging wolf pups
By Marshall Helmberger

"Minnesota�s wolf population has stopped growing and a new study by Dr. David Mech suggests a highly contagious canine disease may be playing a major role in that trend. The study, which appeared late last month in the Journal of Animal Diseases, reports that as many as 70 percent of wolf pups in the study population, located near Ely, are now dying of canine parvovirus, or CPV, a disease first detected in wild wolves in the 1970s. "

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"Surprisingly, Minnesota isn�t the only location where CPV is prevalent in wolf populations, but it�s the only area where the disease appears to be limiting population growth. According to Mech, 100 percent of the wolves in Yellowstone National Park have been exposed to CPV, but it appears to have little effect, even on pups. Mech speculates that the abundance of prey populations in the park, and the fact that those populations have lived without the presence of wolves until recently, has made life relatively easy for wolves in the park. �The wolves there have very good nutrition,� said Mech. �On the other hand, wolves in the Superior National Forest were never exterminated. Their nutritional state in relation to prey populations is probably at a minimum,� he said."

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"Mech hedged on the same question, but noted that some people would likely use the CPV issue to argue against any wolf season in the future. "

Mech is the guy who's been argueing for a wolf season in MN for years. Nice to see the wolf lover's have protected the wolves right into oblivion.

Not fast enough for me......

Actually, Parvo DID limit the wolves in Yellowstone (and in Wyoming)....for a while. After it ran it's course, the wolf population resumed its increase.

And it is because of the Parvo in Yellowstone that USFWS increased the minimum number of wolves in Wyoming to meet delisting requirements. And because of the delisting requirments, Wyoming sued. And despite Wyoming losing both federal lawsuits, the USFWS reversed course and agreed to lower the minimum number of wolves in Wyoming so delisting could take place. And because the USFWS overruled it's biologists (read: politics) the environmental groups called their bluff and won a temporary injunction on delisting in the Northern Rockies.

Now you know the rest of the story.

Parvo in Minnesota wolves will be just another natural method of wildlife limiting themselves......

Casey

I think the prudent thing to do is we need to transplant some MN wolves with their strain of Parvo to the Rockies since the government can't control them maybe they need a helping hand.

Alpinecrick you always know the excuses for not hunting. I thought the last reason given was that the packs were not diversified enough? Now its because of Parvo sounds like a good liberal agenda what ever makes sense today.

You better send a note to Mech so he can stand corrected.


So you are saying that all the USFWS biologists disagreed with the delisting?

What really happened was that environmental groups played games with the notion of "Distinct Population Segments" in order to use the courts to impose their arbitrary wildlife management beliefs.

We will see no delisting, let alone hunting for the next 8 years (read: politics).

I haven't seen many thread titles before that make you say, "I hope, I hope"

Maybe further research could develop a mutation of the virus so that it has another chance to run its course.

That isn't all David Mech said. When a species is in that exponential growth curve, not much seems to effect them for any length of time. The Northern Rockies wolves are still in that growth curve, Upper Midwest wolf population is more mature, near carrying capacity, and diseases have bigger impacts on population growth.

But of course you probably know that, but don't want to say it--doesn't fit in with your agenda.




Getting all biologists to agree/disagree is, well...laughable. I sincerely doubt that all biologists agreed/disagreed with the delisting.



No. The only DPS is in northern Montana with the wolves that have migrated from Canada. The injuction stemmed mostly from the inability of the USFWS to produce evidence that would refute the VOLUMES of evidence they had originally produced supporting the increased number of minimum wolves in Wyoming to meet delisting during the Wyoming lawsuits--in front of the same judge. It turns out it was a gimmee for the environmental groups.

There are arguments the Idaho wolf population could be considered a DPS, but nobody I'm aware has demonstrated it sufficently.




You're hoping that's the case--delisting would take away your boogyman.

Your obssesion with wolves as the scourge of the earth is quite interesting.......

You gotta be kidding.






Obviously you haven't read much of what I have wrote.

Wolves need delisting. Wolves in the Northern Rockies are more than ready to be treated just like another game animal--along with the wolves in the Upper Midwest.

But the USFWS--after carefully crossing the T's and dotting the I's for 10+ years, got caught. It's not really their fault according to the information I listened to. The USFWS locals didn't make the decision to reverse themselves--it was made higher up, in Washington DC.

The environmental groups knew that, and apparently it didn't take long for the federal court to figure it out either.

Remember, this whole lawsuit/injunction revolves around an extra 20-30 wolves in Wyoming...

Casey

Alpinecrick you were the guy telling us last fall that would be hunting this year as I recall you were willing to bet your buddies.
You even laughed at us then telling us we were crazey that it would definatly happen. Oops Wy got 2 weeks and nobody else did it because of a brand new rule that the states had to deal with that was not part of the last plan.

There will always be some new excuse to keep them on the dang endagered list and there will always be guys like you supporting that. Pointing out the follies of our concerns. In the mean time hunting seasons will conintued to be shortened and tags will be reduced. You will be there to point out that every one that sees a reduction in game is just going blind.

You are correct. I did say--repeatedly--that the environmental groups could not win based on the evidence --you shoulda' bet me bullets

I didn't dream the Interior Dept and the Whitehouse would be so stupid as to attempt to arbitrarily overrule the USFWS wolf biologists--that ploy doesn't work in this day and age--the bunny huggers have had plenty of previous experience in dealing with that kind of politics.




You are confusing a gross excess number of elk--which sport hunting was not addressing--with a normal--HEALTHY--number of excess elk that can be hunted.

Mostly though, you label anyone who doesn't go along with the wolf hating theme as a "liberal".

If you want a true conservative, free market approach, then you should advocate selling all the socialist public land and have capitalism address elk hunting and wolves. That way you and the movie stars can each buy a million acres of that former public land and run it anyway you please.........

But in the meantime, the public lands are owned by ALL Americans, and the federal government has the ultimate responsiblity of overseeing wildlife--regardless if the states have the initial authority to manage the wildlife. The general public wants wolves on the landscape and you are going to have to deal with it--ranting about enviromentalists on these forums haven't done much to change things now--has it?


Casey

I did bet ya bullets....figuring on collecting come the end of the year.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lets get the wolf debates going again!!!!!!!!!
I love it!!!!!!!!!!
Where's DPole??????????????!!!!!!!!!

You two should start planning now all the ways to tell us we are wrong because DPole is/was a wildlife professor and we are not!!!!

I can't wait!!!

The wolves probably caught the disease while eating people's pets.

Actually alpincrik when was there a vote by the public? as I see it the goverment forced this down our throats. I don't recall that we ever had any choice. I would be happy to let the states vote on it and let the game managers manage. I think at this point in time even the game managers want this issue to be a management issue but the liberals don't want managment they just want a few people to tell every one else what to do and how to live. And when they get called on it they come up with another excuse.

Bottom line is that you and all the people who so smuggly said we were stupid and not to worry about it were wrong. You can't get into bed with HUSA or Peta or the other radical groups that want to end hunting because it is a mistake they will never go away. Groups like the Rocky Mountain foundation that came out in support of this issue keep forgetting that sportsman have a long memory. They have done a ton of good stuff but this is one mistake they made that is not going away any time soon.

I don't believe sport hunting was ever put to a vote either....nor elk restoration, nor wolf resoration. Besides, even in states like Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming, a "wolf vote" would most likely win. You have to stop living in your own little world. Wolves are more popular than the elk--outside of blood & guts hunters and livestock producers.






You are right, there is a small segment of wolf huggers out there who are just as kooky as the small segment of wolf haters--the rest of us want to see ALL wildlife managed. You are confusing elk managed for sport hunting with management of ALL wildlife. And to the best of my knowledge, every state wildlife agency in the Rocky Mountain west has the mandate to manage ALL wildlife--along with the federal wildlife/biological agencies.








No most sportsman don't have a long memory, they have no idea how wildlife/natural resources were restored/protected in generations past--if they did, they would still be hanging Teddy Roosevelt in effigy for reserving all these National Forests a century ago........

Don't worry, there will be wolf hunting seasons in the near future.


Casey

PM coming.


Casey

Well Casey we will never agree on this issue but I keep waiting for some people to realize that they made a mistake it will probably be my kids or their kids that see the full effect of reduced hunting because of these loony ideas. I am not as against the wolf as I am disappointed in the lack of management and the results are going to show in the next few years. I also don't like the lies and the deceit that have been fed to the people. I don"t see the politics getting better any time soon nor are the anti hunters going away. I do see reduced seasons and shortned hunting oppertunites on the horizon.

Mistake,,, This is by no means is a mistake. Wolves are tools for the anti gun cause... If the wolf eats/ destroys the game population, the government would have to step in and ban hunting to allow for repopulation of wild game. There would be no hunting. This would last for several generations. Interest in hunting would be lost except for a handful of individuals. Leaving no front line of defense for our freedom to own firearms.
Allowing them to march on to glory saving the world from guns...
By the way, when was the last time you saw an AK 47, get a ticket for J-Walking...

I agree this was the plan from the day one.