I believe that in my years on earth that it has been human nature, at least to some degree, to live in denial of becoming sick or contracting diseases, even the most contagious and deadly of them. The dismissal of these afflictions is often rooted in one’s obsessions that cloud the mind, whether physical or mental.
For strange and unexplained reasons, some people have an unhealthy obsession with protecting wolves. People are weird and are often consumed by strange beliefs. I am strong enough within myself that I could actually care less what an individual chooses to occupy their time and what bizarre things are the object of their affection………to a point. And that point is when their obsession interferes with my health and safety.
Some people are addicted to wolves. There are those who worship them and treat them as some kind of spiritual being or a god, if you will. Others have delusions of protecting every wolf on the planet, so clouded in their compulsion they fail to see the folly of their ways; the death and destruction too many of the animals can cause; among them diseases.
Wolves are known to carry 30 or more infectious diseases. Among them is the echinococcus granulosus egg. The wolf, like other canines such as coyotes and foxes, are referred to as a “definitive host”. That means they carry the eggs. Those eggs ingested by other animals, including man, can cause the growth of hydatid cysts on organs such as lungs, liver and brain. Hydatid cyst disease can be deadly to humans.
How do humans contract this disease from tiny eggs left behind by these definitive hosts? All a human has to do is swallow or breathe in an echinococcus granulosus egg. How can that happen?
Those who are determined to protect their favorite wild canines refuse to accept the facts on the ground. They will distort the truth and tell you how these echinococcus granulosus eggs have been around forever and there are no humans that are affected by them. In Alaska alone, there have been over 300 reported cases of this disease in humans since 1950. You can choose to downplay that statistic if you would like by saying that this only amounts to 5 cases per year. But consider the following before you jump to too many conclusions.
Hydatid disease is difficult to diagnose. Add to that the fact that doctors aren’t looking for it because they believe it not to be a problem here in the Lower 48. Consider the Canadian Journal of Surgery and how 4 cases of the disease were discovered and treated.
In addition, it is believed that the state of Idaho may have its first confirmed case of hydatid disease in a human. George Dovel, Editor of the Outdoorsman, wrote over a year ago, “But although Idaho has the most wilderness in the lower 48 states, it has 15 times as many people per square mile as Alaska, countless more pets and domestic animals and 150 times as many cattle”. It may be just a simple math calculation to extrapolate out the increased odds of humans contracting hydatid disease than the 5 per year realized in Alaska. In doing your math, realize that it has been determined that two-thirds of all wolves in Idaho were infected.
You need not be a statistician to understand that the more definitive host wild animals, coming in closer contact with humans, increases littering the countryside with echinococcus granulosus eggs and directly increases the chances of contracting the disease. And it’s sad because it is all preventable.
Wolves, coyotes, foxes and other animals that are the definitive hosts for these eggs, adorn the landscape each time they excrete their feces. The more of these infected animals there are, the more feces (scat) there is to deal with. The more these definitive hosts travel throughout the landscape, the more infected hosts leave their egg-riddled scat for other animals to ingest, including humans.
Dr. Valerius Geist, professor emeritus University of Calgary, warns us:
Urgent: could you make a point of it that now, that we know that the majority of wolves are infected with Echinococcus, that all hunters control their curiosity and not poke about in wolf or coyote feces to find out what these predators ate. these feces are saturated with tiny, lightweight Echinococcus eggs that rise like dust plume from the disturbed feces and envelop the poking hunter. If the air-born eggs are ingested, the an infection is possible, and having Echinococcus cysts grow inside oneself is not a desirable condition. Trust me!
As other animals, such as deer, elk, moose, cattle, etc. graze, feed and drink water as part of their normal routine, they ingest these eggs left behind. They will eventually develop the hydatid cysts. The cysts contain the tapeworms. As wolves kill deer, elk, moose and cattle that are infected, they ingest the eggs and the cycle starts all over again.
Humans can ingest the eggs in similar ways as well as breathing the tiny eggs that become airborne. Family pets that are allowed to be outside, can pick up the eggs and pass them on to family members, especially young children. The ways in which humans can pick up the eggs increase as the prevalence of the eggs increases and the means in which they can be spread. It’s a giant snowball effect.
With scat covering areas of the landscape, we know that grazing animals can ingest the eggs. They can also step in scat and contribute to the further spreading of the eggs. We are now discovering that birds can peck into piles of scat looking for insects and worms. Off they fly to who knows where – perhaps to the local watering hole and deposit a couple of eggs clinging to their feet or feathers for others to drink up. Perhaps the same birds land on your backyard feeder leaving a couple eggs behind. You or your children go out to clean the feeders or add more food, you just might pick up one of those eggs. The ways in which these tiny little spore-like eggs can be transported about is perhaps only limited by your imagination.
A couple years ago while beating around the back woods of Maine one summer, I took a photograph of two swallowtail butterflies clinging to a pile of coyote scat. As I was interested in getting the picture of the butterflies, I didn’t pay much attention to the scat they were on.
Tom Remington photo
While I am not aware of the presence of echinococcus granulosus in Maine, I am quite cognizant of the fact that the wild canines in Maine have been DNA tested to determine they are part wolf, part Eastern coyote. Today I might pass up that opportunity to photograph the butterflies. In addition, these butterflies were on a rock at the edge of a small river, where downstream only a 100 yards or so is a very popular swimming hole. Makes you think I hope.
But also consider that should that pile of wolf/coyote scat contain echinococcus granulosus eggs, when the butterflies leave and go about their business, what would they be taking along with them?
We can only imagine how this disease can spread and denying the disease presents us with a problem isn’t going to make it go away.
Tom Remington
