USFWS Basically Ignored Concerns About Disease From Wolves Before Reintroduction
December 15, 2009
We are getting to a point in this great nation where people will seriously lose any trust in the scientific community. Politics run rampant there and it’s political money that funds scientific research which is about the same as the fox taking over duties of feeding the chickens, fattening them up for the kill.
Climategate has brought reasonable people to a point of having doubts about what is driving the push behind anthropogenic global warming. With the release of emails and documents that seem to clearly point a finger at scientists hiding data, conspiring to cover it up while demonizing anyone in opposition, one has to wonder just how deep this goes into the scientific research community.
The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and Central Idaho in 1995ish pales in comparison to Climategate, nonetheless it is just as troubling. Before wolves could be released into these regions, a federal bureaucratic process had to first be followed. One of the last items on a check list is an Environmental Impact Statement. With a completed EIS, the USFWS in 1994 decided it would bring wolves into the Greater Yellowstone Area, including Central Idaho, and called those wolves a Non Essential Experimental population.
During the process of creating the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the feds have to have a comment period from the public. Often times these comment periods result in a tremendous number of comments that come from everyday citizens to world renowned scientists.
During the comment period for wolf reintroduction, several scientists submitted information concerning disease, worms and parasites that wolves are known to carry, posing threats to other wildlife, domestic animals and humans. It appears from the 1994 EIS for wolf reintroduction, those concerns were pretty much completely ignored.
Will Graves, author of “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages“, has studied wolves for many years. He has traveled to Russia and surrounding nations to gather information, historic documents, etc., to learn more about wolves, their diseases and the impact these animals have had on humans for centuries. This is the basis of his book.
Graves submitted comments to Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning disease, worms and parasites, among other interests, dated October 3, 1993.
1. Diseases, Worms, and Parasites. I was surprised that the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) did not make a detailed study on the impact issue of diseases, worms, and parasites (page 9). I believe an EIS is not complete without a detailed study covering the diseases, worms and parasites that wolves would carry, harbor, and spread around in YNP (Yellowstone National Park) and in Idaho. The study should cover the potential negative impact of these diseases on wild and domestic animals, and on humans. I believe the potential negative impact of the diseases is a valid reason not to reintroduce wolves into YNP and to Idaho.
Countless articles about the diseases, worms and parasites carried, harbored, and spread around by wide ranging wolves have been published in a magazine sponsored by the former Soviet Ministry of Agriculture. For example, a Soviet biologist reported that gray wolves are carriers of a number of types of worms and parasites which are dangerous for animals and for humans. According to this biologist, the main one is cestoda. Over approximately a ten year period, the Soviets conducted a controlled study on the subject. They made the following observations. When and where wolves were almost eliminated in a given research area, (where almost all wolves were killed by each spring and new wolves moved into the controlled area only in the fall) infections of taenia hydatiqena in moose and boar did not occur in more than 30 to 35% of the animals. The rate of infections were 3 to 5 examples in each animal. When and where wolves were not killed in the controlled areas in the spring, and where there were 1 or 2 litters of wolf cubs, the infections in moose and boar of taenia hydatiqena reached 100% and up to 30 to 40 examples of infection (infestation) were in each moose and boar. Each year the Soviets studied 20 moose and 50 boar. The research was documented and proved that even in the presence of foxes, raccoons and domestic dogs, ONLY THE WOLF was the basic source of the infections in the moose and boar. Examinations of 9 wolves showed that each one was infected with taenia hydatiqena with an intensity of 5 to 127 examples. This confirmed the Soviet conclusions. The damage done by taenia hydatiqena to cloven footed game animals is documented by Soviet veterinarians. My concern is that if gray wolves in the former USSR carried and spread to game animals dangerous parasites, then there must be danger that gray wolves in YNP and in Idaho would also spread parasites. Why should we subject our game animals, and possibly our domestic animals to such danger?
If wolves are planted in YNP and in Idaho, I believe the wolves will undoubtedly play a role in the epizootiology and epidemiology of rabies. The wolf has played an important role, or perhaps a major role, as a source of rabies for humans in Russia, Asia, and the former USSR. From 1976 to 1980 a wolf bite was the cause of rabies in 3.5% of human cases in the Uzbek, Kazakh, and Georgian SSRs and in several areas of the RSFSR. Thirty cases of wolf rabies and 36 attacks on humans by wolves were registered in 1975 – 1978 only in the European area of the RSFSR. In the Ukraine, wolf rabies constituted .8% of all cases of rabies in wildlife in 1964 to 1978. The incidence of wolf rabies increased six fold between 1977 and 1979. The epizootic significance of the wolf has been shown in the Siberian part of the former USSR. Between 1950 and 1977 a total of 8.7% of rabies cases in the Eastern Baikal region were caused by wolf bites. In the Aktyubinsk Region of Kazakhstan, of 54 wolves examined from 1972 to 1978, 17 or 31.5% tested positive for rabies. During this period, 50 people were attacked by wolves and 33 suffered bites by rabid wolves. This shows that healthy wolves also attack and bite humans. Recent Russian research states that as the numbers of hybrid wolves increases, the likelihood of a healthy hybrid wolf attacking humans also increase. Russian wildlife specialists state that when there is no hunting of wolves, the possibility of wolves attacking humans also increases, as the wolves lose their fear of humans.
Wolves not only have and carry rabies, but also have carried foot and mouth disease and anthrax. Wolves in Russia are reported to carry over 50 types of worms and parasites, including echinococcus, cysticercus and the trichinellidae family.
Prior to planting wolves in YNP and Idaho, I respectfully request a detailed study be made on the potential impact wolves will have in regard to carry, harboring and spreading of diseases.
Needless to say, Graves never got his wish. As a matter of fact, it appears that the USFWS pretty much just ignored anything to do with diseases, worms and parasites, with a mild exception to rabies. Did they have this information and covered it up in order not to dissuade people from wanting wolves?
The 1994 FEIS basically omits any real information about disease, worms and parasites. On page 55 of the Consultation and Coordination portion of the FEIS, the USFWS devotes one small section to deal with disease.
Diseases and Parasites to and from Wolves
Most respondents who commented on this issue expressed concern about diseases and parasites introduced wolves could transfer to other animals and to humans in recovery areas. The disease most often mentioned was rabies.
Several people advocated additional research be conducted on the possible effects of wolf introduction on other animals and humans. Also, several individuals noted as a potential problem warranting further study was the possibility of exposing introduced wolves to diseases or parasites that could decimate their numbers.
“Wolves are known rabies carriers. We have enough health problems in our culture today, what we don’t need is another problem!”
Response – Wolves will be given vaccinations when they are handled to reduce the chances of them catching diseases from coyotes and other canids. Wolves will eventually naturally develop resistance
to exposure to canid diseases that are present in wildlife and domestic dog populations in the western
United States. Wolves will not significantly increase the transmission of rabies or other diseases.
Not only did they not address any of Graves’ legitimate concerns, the only thing mentioned by name for disease was rabies. And not only was all other diseases, worms and parasites ignored, they only addressed the issue to the detriment of the wolves. Read the response above again. Their answer to everything is to give the wolves a vaccination before being released, promising the wolves won’t catch anything from other wildlife and/or domestic dog populations. They completely fail to address the concerns of other wildlife, domestic dogs and humans. It appears their bias for the wolves comes shining through brightly, caring not enough to be concerned with anything else.
Being the cynic that I am and now with an even greater distrust of science, particularly that funded by and sponsored by the federal government, this sure looks like the dandy work of a cover up to me.
In 1993 Will Graves and other scientists warned the feds that bringing wolves in would end up in the spread of unwanted diseases, some of which could potentially destroy other wildlife and be of harm to humans. It was ignored. Now, 16 years later, we find out that over 60% of wolves tested in the Greater Yellowstone Area, including Idaho and Montana, are chuck-a-block full of worms, the kind that can be harmful to humans.
But, let’s not kid ourselves. Even though the feds were dishonest in their approach, we shouldn’t be. We don’t know where these wolves got the worms. Yes, they were vaccinated before being released, but are we sure that the vaccinations took care of everything? Most assume that wolves that migrated into the region on their own through Northern Idaho and Northwestern Montana, brought the diseases with them. There’s not a lot that can be done about that. But that’s not the real issue.
Wolves are known to be a wide ranging creature. Environmentalist want to paint the picture to the public that wolves remain in their own neat little packs and that if there are not millions of these killing machines spread out all over the U.S. of A. they somehow will never survive.
Wolves roam and they carry disease. The USFWS either deliberately omitted this information in order to manipulate the public opinion about wolves or they didn’t do their homework and were irresponsible in not conducting a complete study on the impact of diseases, worms and parasites as was requested. Now we have another impact from wolves we all will have to deal with.
Who do we trust anymore?
Tom Remington
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Come come now Thomas, and emotional society does not need the facts, they are the ” we want it now people ” regardless of the final outcome.. Damn the truth full wolves ahead…
And on a lighter note, can you imagine the destruction of the grizzly bears should they start getting Rabies.. Oh the Irony of it all.
The New Age Environmentalist movement will cause the deaths of millions of humans and wild life… They in fact are now, millions in third world countries are starving because of the bio fuels scam, millions will starve in America soon..
Thanks Environmental Midgets..
Have you ever heard of Mad Cow disease, how about Bird Flu, maybe even Swine Flu? I don’t recall there being a Wolf Flu.
Before you start blaming wolves for bringing problems you should start blaming the cattle industry, the chicken industry, the pig industry, and people. People have brought so many diseases that it could never even begin to compare to the ones that animals have brought.
It’s funny that wild wolves do not have these problems, it’s only the ones that have come in contact with humans. Parasites and diseases that are carried on wolves haven’t killed a single soul, yet Mad Cow, Bird Flu, and Swine Flu have killed thousands of people.
So instead of fighting against the wolves, help fight against the diseases and parasites that can easily infect the people under our own roof.
We are fighting a disease known as Mad Environmentalisms disease.. It really is getting out of hand, and the deeper we study and research it the more we learn, it ties into several other diseases, Marxism, Hegel’s dogma, and even habitual lying and false representation of evidence to support the Mad Environmentalisms disease, it is so terrible it will most likely destroy this Nation.. Unless millions of Americans can find the courage to stand up and inject the patients with the needed meds and soon, we are all fucked..
[...] In a letter, dated October 3, 1993, Mr Will Graves of Maryland wrote a letter to Ed Bangs, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Project Leader for the introduction of the Canadian Gray, in Helena, MT. Graves, the “author of “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages“, has studied wolves for many years. He has traveled to Russia and surrounding nations to gather information, historic documents, etc., to learn more about wolves, their diseases and the impact these animals have had on humans for centuries. This is the basis of his book.” (source) [...]
In the 80′s when the reintroduction was starting, I attended a meeting for the area’s cattlemen headed up by Ed Bangs, in North Lincoln Co., Montana. At this meeting he stated that there had never been a documented attack on a human by a wolf. He also told us what would happen to us if we harmed a wolf. There would be fines and a large reward for anyone turning us in. The government would also have the right to confiscate our ranches if we couldn’t pay up. We were forbidden to protect our livestock even if the attack were in progress.
I was shaken by the government’s audacity.
We always had wolves in the area. People figured they were drifting down from Canada’s wilderness. Nobody paid much attention – at least not that I heard. There was probably a good balance that has now been destroyed by reintroduction. North Lincoln Co. has been devastated. The cattlemen are mostly gone, small farms have had livestock attacked and killed – and not eaten. The game is sparse, and there is danger from wolves when hunting. Mountain lions have become a problem because there territory and food sources have been taken over by wolves.
On top of the wolves, the environmentalists have completely stopped all logging and shut down the mills. Huge forest fires are the result of their “no management” and let mother nature alone doctrine. At times the air is so thick with smoke that you can’t see for a half mile in front of you, and there are air quality warnings. The environmental movement threw the baby out with the bath water.
Now we have hard financial times, with fiscal deficit etc. I wonder if the general public – the vast majority not having a realistic clue about the land outside the urban areas – would even take into consideration the costs of the wolf reintroduction program. I believe they are so brainwashed by educators, slick glossy magazines, etc. that they would think any expense is justified. Just the aircraft tracking expenses are huge. What has the whole thing cost, and what have the financial losses to the people been? Where were those figures published? What will the costs of control be in the future when it finally is no longer possible to lie away the problems, and reality sets in. I feel strongly that in order to help balance our budget, programs like wolf reintroduction need to be stopped immediately.
Let those who truly know and understand the land they live in manage its resources. North Lincoln Co. Montana could be the poster child for what happens when misled radical environmentalists and their highly funded organizations take over. The impact is huge for this large area with few residents. They have only pennies to fight the millions that have been spent by the environmental movement to take over and destroy what was a way of life for hundreds of years.
The damage done by these Club of Rome Environmentalists from NAFTA-GATT-ESA-WATER etc. etc.. Is in the trillions. From the Steel Industry, Logging, Free trade Agreements, so-called American companies and Corporations, for example like Microsoft, using slaves in China to make their products, those people for Gates work 16-18 hour days and get paid pennies to do it.. And then the damages to Californian Farming, Klamath Valley farmers, the damage to the wild life by these groups is priceless…They have cost us billions in bullshit legislation and court case costs..
Teilhard de Chardin. U.N. charter, originator of the New Age (environmental) Movement – Jesuit.
Richard McSorely, Jesuit, comes along and mentors Bill Clinton and starts his green peacers, earth justice hippie movement and then, enter one USFWS, rome property thru and thru by Jesuits, again.
they are steeling it, poluting it, ruining it from non-use/management and lying about it all the way to bank. It’s time they went by the way-side. It is way past time the foreigners went home – before their nakedness is revealed, completely.
Dawn Gray said:
“North Lincoln Co. has been devastated. The cattlemen are mostly gone”
That is their goal. To them the cattleman are using their land. They want such devastation, along with an end to hunting. Seldom will they ever admit that.
[...] this of course runs contrary to studies done in Russia where they have dealt with the presence of wolves for centuries. As related to us from Will Graves, [...]