Veterinary medicine
The capture, marking, and sampling of wild wolves have been conducted every winter since 1998.
Wolves can be affected by a wide range of diseases, for example 7 viruses, 14 external parasites and over 60 species of internal parasites. Diseases such as rabies, parvo, and fox mange can cause enough mortality to significantly impact a wolf population. In addition to these, the dwarf tapeworm Echinococcus is of particular interest as, like rabies, it can be dangerous to humans. Scandinavia is free of rabies. Parvo and dwarf tapeworm have not yet been documented in wild Scandinavian wolves.
Fox mange is caused by a mange mite. The mite burrows into the skin, causing severe itching, hair loss and skin lesions. In addition to foxes, this mite also affects domestic dogs, wolves and lynx. The susceptibility of wolves to mange varies both between individuals and between populations. In 2001-2002, an adult female and several young wolves died of mange in the Hasselfors territory. Mild scabies symptoms, healed scabies lesions and antibodies against scabies have been found in several other Scandinavian wolf territories.