A summary of theoretical, empirical, and experimental evidence supporting predator cleansing of CWD in deer and elk herds by mountain lions and wolves.

Predator cleansing is the idea or hypothesis that predators, especially apex carnivores sitting
atop their ecosystem’s food chain, can prevent or control the spread of infectious diseases in prey
populations by hunting and killing the sickest and most infectious animals. In theory and perhaps in practice, this reduces the transmission, incidence, and prevalence of wildlife infections
and improves the overall health, survival, and fitness of the prey population.
The predator cleansing concept, also sometimes referred to as disease sanitizing, is derived from
the intuitive wildlife ecology notion that predators selectively target, pursue, kill, and consume
sick, injured, weak, very young, very old, and otherwise vulnerable individuals—“the newly born
and the nearly dead” — among the prey population. By carnivore calculus, these “less fit” individual prey might be easier to hunt (less energy expenditure by the predator) and be less likely to
cause serious injury to the predator during the pursuit, takedown, and kill. Read More…