Recently, one prominent NASA scientist, James Hansen, was accused of illegally accepting more than $1.2-million from well funded environmental groups to support their "Stop Global Warming" agendas. The manner in which some state wildlife agency biologists now seem to be favoring the "let nature balance itself agenda" has many sportsmen, who are the primary financial supporters of these agencies, wondering if the "selling out" problem has now come much closer to home. In the same light, many overly radical environmental professors who are teaching our future wildlife scientists are now under public scrutiny.
A new area of wolf-related science that is just now surfacing is the threat of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm - which close to 70-percent of all wolves tested in the Northern Rockies now carry - and spread widely during their long ranging hunts. Every pile of scat left by these wolves could deposit thousands of the tapeworm eggs, which can result in cystic hydatid disease in elk, moose, deer, livestock - and even humans. The eggs of this parasite can cause health and life threatening cysts on the lungs, the liver and on the brain. Once contracted, detection of hydatid disease could take years. Having the cysts surgically removed presents a new danger. They are filled with a cloudy liquid, filled with tiny tapeworm heads, and should one burst, either during surgery or on its own, leads to a severe allergic reaction, called anaphylatic shock - and possibly death. When a cyst does burst, it can spawn the growth of multiple new cysts, making surgery a tricky procedure.
As wolf numbers continue to grow in the Northern Rockies, so will the chances of contracting the disease. It already has many outdoor oriented people afraid to enjoy harvesting and eating wild berries and mushrooms, which could be covered with microscopic tapeworm eggs. Several cases in humans have now been reported, and a growing number of hunters are finding the cysts on the lungs and livers of elk, deer and moose harvested.
Science is a wonderful tool when it is used for the right reasons. But when it is used to lie and deceive, to cover up what's really happening, and to support a radical agenda, perhaps it should be handled as a criminal offense. Montana resident Robert Fanning, the founder and C.E.O. of the group known as the Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd refers to the science used throughout the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project as "scientific fraud!"
The evidence says he's right. - Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH
Note: Robert Fanning is one of many who feel that the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project is the greatest wildlife disaster of our lifetimes, and definitely not a conservation success story. He believes those who are responsible should be held accountable. He points out that Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd has carefully preserved it's standing to sue and expose this criminal scientific fraud.
|