This is a young wolf photographed earlier this year in Yellowstone National Park – sadly though it is quite sick and clearly malnourished. This was one of the sadder sights and stories from my recent trip, but I was told this wolf was looking better when I came across it than it had looked a week or so earlier. The wolf was alone and not with it’s pack, although it had moved closer to them over the preceding couple of days and would stand a better chance of survival if it could get back to them and feed better. There are numerous diseases and illnesses that can affect wolves and this pup has mange – a skin and hair disease caused by microscopic mites. These infectious mites come in two forms, demodex and sarcoptic mange. Demodex is not contagious between wolves in a pack, but does cause the loss of fur and bacteria causes skin infections and sores. Sarcoptic is the more common of the two and is contagious and devastating to a pack. These mites will tunnel into the skin of the wolf to lay their eggs and as well as fur loss, sores and infection they cause the animal to itch like crazy causing additional infections to occur. During the early 1900’s mange was used to try and control wolf populations and was deliberately introduced to wolf packs and the ignorance of it’s effects was devastating, particularly in Eastern US states and Eastern Canada. It is treatable in domestic animals and some wild canines can survive from it, particularly if the winter cold isn’t an issue for them at the time of infection.
