Outdoornews
January 19, 2021
There is a way to slow the spread and perhaps eliminate the scourge of chronic wasting disease in Pennsylvania deer, and you heard it here first – stock wolves.
Nah, just kidding. Obviously, introducing those relentless predators into Pennsylvania’s mostly crowded, mixed urban-rural landscape would be irresponsible, wrong headed and disastrous. But it is worth noting that those wild canines are now seen by some as a control on the always-fatal-to-deer disease in other parts of the country.
A study is underway in Yellowstone National Park to see if wolves can control CWD, and interestingly, there is a Pennsylvania connection to the work. Researchers are studying the effects of when a predator sustains the health of a prey population by killing the sickest animals