![]() ![]() The European Wilderness Society will accept only donations in cash. The European Wilderness Society will refrain from providing advice about the tax or other treatment of gifts and will encourage donors to seek guidance from their own professional advisers to assist them in the process of making their donation. No irrevocable gift, whether outright or life-income in character, will be accepted if under any reasonable set of circumstances the gift would jeopardize the donor’s financial security. The European Wilderness Society will not accept any gift unless it can be used or expended consistently with the purpose and mission of the nonprofit non-government European Wilderness Society. Not only because they keep the populations stable, but also because they can prevent the over-occurrence of diseases.Īcceptance of any contribution, gift or grant is at the discretion of the European Wilderness Society. Many more such examples can be found easily, all of them pointing towards the same results: if left alone, prey populations actually benefit from being hunted by their natural predators. And in northern Spain, wolf-predation reduces tuberculosis levels in wild boar. The same is true for prion diseases in deer – disease presence was suppressed in times or areas when deer were hunted by wolves. Mountain lions in America for example, prefer prion-infected mule deer over those not infected (prions are a protein-cause neurodegenerative diseases). And in doing so, they often influence the prevalence of certain diseases in prey populations. The answer is: yes! As mentioned before, many predators select prey that is easiest for them to kill, because of age-related or disease-induced reasons. Do other predators influence prey health too? Showcasing how the presence of wolves can benefit prey populations too, might be a powerful argument against culling predators. Due to this, the study also highlights the potential political implications, since the hunt on wolves (and other large predators) is a highly debated topic wherever large predators occur. If wolves can take over this role (and possibly, do it better than we can), there will be no need for us to interfere. to avoid overgrazing), but also to control the outbreak of certain diseases within those prey populations. Currently, prey species in many places are being hunted or culled to benefit the ecosystem (e.g. If predators are able to control not only prey numbers, but also the health situation within a prey population, the need for manual invasive management may be much reduced. What this means for predator/prey management Similar effects might be true also for other health conditions, especially those linked to osteoarthritis however, there are often complex interactions at play and it can be difficult to determine trends for certain. So in a roundabout way, wolves may be responsible for how healthy or diseased a population of prey animals is. There was some evidence for this, as arthritis cases were reduced in years after which wolves had killed many individuals, possibly because of the selective removal of genes. Since the likelihood of developing arthritis is dependent on genetics, a selective removal of diseased moose by wolves may influence the overall occurrence of the disease in the prey population. In other words: younger moose are less likely to be hunted than older moose, but only if they do not suffer from arthritis – then the trend lessens. While it can be extremely painful and limiting for a person, for a moose running away from a pack of wolves, limited joint mobility can mean death.įor the wolves and moose in North America, it was found that wolves prefer old moose over those in their prime stage of life (confirming the above-mentioned assumptions), but also, that this preference reduces when prime adults suffer from osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis in ungulates causes the same symptoms to the well-known arthritis in humans – deformations and pain in the joints and associated reductions in mobility of the affected area. Please also read: Human or Wolf? Who’s the better hunter? How can wolves be responsible for arthritis levels in their prey?įor this study, the researchers also looked at whether the presence and severity of osteoarthritis influence which individuals wolves prefer to hunt. ![]()
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