Animal droppings are usually merely an annoying mess (or fertilizer is you wish to be polite) but a recent study of bobcat scat may be leading in a much different direction.
Somehow , predatory cats are eating meat infected with chronic wasting disease and destroying the prions causing the disease. All apparently without getting sick themselves.
According to UPR the new study suggests that bobcats (Lynx rufus) and cougars (Puma concolor) somehow destroy the prions that cause chronic wasting disease. Cats fed infected meat eat a large quantity of prions, but the prions entirely disappear from bobcatscats within about 72 hours.
According to UPR:
“Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Veterinarian Samantha Allen said bobcats and other carnivores could be a natural ally in the fight to contain CWD prions.
“It just might be another way to stop some of the transmission, and take some of the CWD off the landscape,” said Allen. “Which is really important, and we have a really tough time doing that right now.”
While some have warned that carnivores and scavengers help spread CWD prions across landscapes, Allen said that’s not exactly what her team is seeing.
Researchers found that just 2% of prions remained in bobcat scat after being fed CWD infected materials. The next day, just 1% remains, and on the third day zero prions remain.
These results are similar to a 2021 study of mountain lions, according to a Wyofile report”Link in original,
Prions are a class of potentially dangerous proteins linked to various neurological diseases such as “mad cow” disease. They destroy the brain function of the animal afflicted. They are not destroyed by cooking and can remain active on the ground and grow into plants and be consumed. How much of a danger prions present to humans is debated.
The unanswered question is how does feline digestion destroy the prions? Or perhaps it it somethnig in the bobcat scat? Finding the answer to that question may have dramatic results
Bobcats are not threatened and are quite numerous in most of the nation. Mountain lions are fewer in number in California than was believed. Both felines face danger from traffic and other human activities. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) appears to be spreading across the country.