PART 1 of 2
By
Lynn Stuter
February 9, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
There
a secret, hiding in plain sight, that every American should know about.
Your life may depend on it.
In the mid-1990's, wolves were "re-introduced" to areas of the
West under the auspices of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
in accordance with the "Endangered Species Act".
I will digress here for a moment and explain why quotes are used around
the word "re-introduced". The word re-introduced means
to bring back a species indigenous to the area from which it has disappeared
or is in danger of becoming extinct.
The wolf indigenous to most parts of the West is called the Timber Wolf
or Gray Wolf (canis
lupus irremotus). The male of these species, on average, is about
75 lbs; the female is smaller as is usual with most species.
In hearing about wolves invading Idaho, which has the largest contiguous
wilderness area of any state in the lower 48, I kept hearing stories about
huge animals. One gent told me that a wolf crossed the road in front of
his pickup and stood as tall as the hood. I rather discounted it as the
proverbial "fish story" where the fish gets bigger with each
telling of the story. What he was describing was one big animal considering
his pickup was a 4x4.
I would learn that he wasn't telling a "fish story." The wolf
brought in and turned loose in the Yellowstone National Park and other
parts of central Idaho is the Canadian
Gray Wolf. If this article is correct, the species of wolf imported
is the canis lupus occidentallis or MacKenzie Valley Wolf, a large wolf
from Western Canada. One
website states that this wolf was imported from Alberta. In searching,
there is the canis lupus columbianus, a large wolf found in Yukon, British
Columbia and Alberta. Another, canis
lupus griseoalbus, is a large wolf found in Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba. Whether one or more of these species, what is obvious is
that they are not indigenous to the lower 48.
Males, on average, weigh 130 lbs, the females somewhat smaller. These
animals are huge, far outweighing any dog but the mastiff breeds. Were
they to stand on their hind legs, put their feet on the shoulders of most
people, they would be looking down at them!
Let me be perfectly clear; the Canadian
Gray Wolf is not indigenous to the lower 48 states. To claim they
are a "re-introduction" is not only misleading but purposely
misleading.
That would not be the first or last problem with the "re-introduction"
of wolves.
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)
Graves' letter addressed the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) presented by Bangs. In his letter, Graves expressed his concerns regarding introducing wolves to the United States period,
"I support Alternative 3, the No Wolf Alternative.
1. Diseases, Worms and Parasites. I was surprised that the DEIS did not make a detailed study on the impact issue of diseases, worms, and parasites (page 9). I believe an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) is not complete without a detailed study covering the diseases, worms and parasites that wolves would carry, harbor, and spread around in the 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 these diseases is a valid reason not to reintroduce wolves into YNP and to Idaho."
Mr. Graves concerns, outlined in the letter, while very valid, were ignored, not only by Ed Bangs but also by the USFWS.
Advertisement
Everyone
should read Will Graves' letter. It is very important. And what it makes
so very obvious is that the American people have been lied to, if only
by omission, about the reality of the wolves introduced which environmentalists
would have you believe was a "re-introduction"
of an indigenous species.
What are the "diseases, worms and parasites" spoken of by Graves?
Besides hoof and mouth disease, anthrax of a less virulent variety than
the variety we are used to hearing about, Neospora caninum which
causes late-term abortions in cattle, and an increased incidence of rabies,
these wolves carry a parasitic tapeworm.
When most of us envision a tapeworm, we think of the kind carried by dogs
and cats and for which pet owners worm them and that are very visible
in the scat.
This tapeworm is of a different variety. This tapeworm is a three-millimeter-long
tapeworm known as Echinococcus granulosus which causes a disease
called Alveolar
Hydatid Disease (also known as Cystic Hydatid Disease). The disease
presents in the form of cysts in vital organs such as the liver, lungs
and brain. The disease can be asymptomatic, growing and spreading for
years without detection. Alveolar
Hydatid Disease presented a 70% mortality rate in 1980 among Alaskan
Eskimos diagnosed. More recently, some success has been achieved in treating
the
disease without surgery.
This parasite has been found in two-thirds
of wolf carcasses examined in Idaho. From the wolf, the parasite is
spread to other warm blooded animals, mostly through contact with dried
wolf scat in the wild.
Infection of ungulates (hoofed animals) is obviously through air currents
spreading the eggs to grass and surrounding vegetation that ungulates
eat. A dog, sniffing the dried scat of a wolf, as dogs do with the scat
of any animal, is sufficient to cause the eggs to go airborne, infecting
the dog's nostrils, mouth and getting on the fur where they can be transmitted
to anyone handling or petting the dog.
Any warm-blooded animal, wild or domestic, large or small, is susceptible
as are humans.
How easy is it to contract the parasite that causes the disease? If you
listen to the USFWS field biologists, and pro-wolf
advocates, not very. Biologists
and scientists not on the government payroll, however, say otherwise.
The Centers
for Disease Control has issued a warning about the disease.
Dr. Val Geist, Professional Biologist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental
Science, University of Calgary, in an e-mail to a concerned citizen, had
this to say,
It is well known that domestic dogs play a very large risk factor in hydatid disease. Unlike in Northern Canada or Alaska, in the West one is dealing with much greater densities of people, dogs and carrier species such as deer or elk. High incidents of the parasite in wolves and coyotes and a high infestation rate with cysts in lungs and liver of deer and elk, put at risk the ranching, farming and rural communities. In winter time deer and elk will frequently be found on ranches close to communities. Dogs from ranches, farms and hamlets will have access to winter killed carcasses of deer and elk as well as to offal left in the field during the hunting season. Once infected with dog tape worm, the ranch and house dogs will contaminate the yard, porches, living rooms etc with hydatid eggs. There is no escape from this! Ten to twenty years down the road, hydatid disease will raise its head, in particular in persons who as toddlers crawled over floors walked over by people and dogs carrying in hydatid eggs from the outside. Please inform yourself what this is likely to mean in terms of prognosis, suffering and costs!
What
does Dr Geist suggest, in dealing with the probability of coming in contact
with infected animals?
"1.) Assuming the number of wolf packs can be reduced so as to retain
a vibrant, abundant prey base, that developmental studies proceed on how
to create bait stations that are accepted by wolves, with bait containing
anti-helminthic drugs that are readily eaten by wolves. I am aware that
this will not be a quick project. Rather I expect that wolves will accept
bait stations, let alone the bait, only very gradually. It will take time,
experimentation and sophisticated know how to make bait stations operational.
However, once accepted by wolves, the bait stations will break the hydatid
cycle between wolves and ungulates. Over time, this will lead to diminished
infections of deer and elk, and this with re-infection with the parasite
by wolves and coyotes.
2.) Unfortunately, under moist and cold conditions hydatid eggs remain viable for months and may even infect after three and a half years. Under dry, hot conditions the eggs die quickly. Burning the under story in forests will not eliminate the dangers from hydatid eggs, but will certainly reduce such. It's a policy worth looking at.
|
Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts! |
3.)
Simultaneously, a thorough campaign must be initiated to regularly de-worm
dogs in danger areas as well as encourage specific hygienic measures.
Here it means winning the ears and the trust of the rural communities."
For part two click below.
Click here for part -----> 2,
� 2010 Lynn M. Stuter - All Rights Reserved
Sign Up For Free E-Mail Alerts
Activist and researcher, Stuter has spent the last fifteen years researching systems theory and systems philosophy with a particular emphasis on education as it pertains to achieving the sustainable global environment. She home schooled two daughters. She has worked with legislators, both state and federal, on issues pertaining to systems governance, the sustainable global environment and education reform. She networks nationwide with other researchers and a growing body of citizens concerned about the transformation of our nation from a Constitutional Republic to a participatory democracy. She has traveled the United States and lived overseas.
Web site: www.learn-usa.com
E-Mail: lmstuter@learn-usa.com�
