MOUNT VERNON — Hat and coat sales in Russia may soon help Ohio’s last remaining population of pack rats.
Mike Miller pointed out this unexpected connection Wednesday during a question-and-answer session at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County’s noon Brown Bag Chat. Miller is a Division of Wildlife officer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The Allegheny wood rat is more popularly known as the pack rat because of its habit of collecting any odds and ends that capture its attention, and stowing them away in its nest. According to an ODNR video which Miller showed, the animal’s habitat once spread throughout the mountains of Pennsylvania and well into Ohio, with historical burrows, or middens, known to have been located as far north as Licking County.
Since the 1960s, however, Allegheny wood rat populations have been hit hard by the disease known as raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis). The parasite gets its name from the fact that it is carried by raccoons, whom it rarely hurts. But if other animals (including, in rare cases, humans) come in contact with raccoon feces, they can pick up the parasite, which can be carried into the brains of other animals, causing severe pathological symptoms and death. Allegheny wood rats are particularly susceptible to the infestation because they normally collect raccoon fecal pellets to break them open and search for undigested nuts.
Pack rat populations have plunged in the last half-century because of the steep rise in the raccoon population, which has come about because of the falling popularity of fur coats and other fur-lined clothing accessories. According to the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, 70 percent of adult raccoons in the Midwest carry raccoon roundworm, and 99 percent of young raccoons do. This infestation level has all but removed the Allegheny wood rat from Ohio, leaving only one population in Adams County, near the Ohio River. Miller said wildlife officials have been reluctant to attempt reintroducing populations to such areas as Licking County, because they would still be susceptible to raccoon roundworm.
But, according to Miller, the falling U.S. dollar has made exporting raccoon fur a lucrative business. Fur is still popular in Russia and China, and investors from those countries have been buying fur with euros and shipping it to the Far East to be made into coats, hats and more. Miller said that in recent years, there were times when raccoon pelts sank as low as $1, and there was even one year when pelts ceased selling at all. Now the pelts are fetching $18 to $20. This renewal of a market for raccoon pelts may bring the raccoon population down, giving the Allegheny wood rat a chance to survive and perhaps make a comeback in Ohio.
