Newfoundland and Labrador Opinion

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COMMENTARY: Our unsung sanitation crew: Why the Maritimes needs its scavengers

They are not the charismatic megafauna that grace our tourism brochures. You will not find them on a whale-watching tour or featured on a postcard of Peggy’s Cove. But patrolling our coastlines, forests, and ocean depths is a vital sanitation crew that works for free, never takes a sick day, and provides an essential public service: wildlife scavengers.

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From the eagles circling above the Bay of Fundy to the coyotes and ravens patrolling our farmland, these animals are the Maritimes’ original waste management experts. And beneath the waves, they have equally important counterparts. As we face increasing pressures from climate change and development, it is time we recognize the profound role this crew plays in keeping our region clean and healthy.

When a deer dies in a dense Maritime forest, a clock starts ticking. Left to rot, carcasses become breeding grounds for pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, which can leach into soil or water sources. This is where our scavenger guild earns its keep. Research demonstrates that vertebrate scavengers are remarkably effective at rapidly removing carcasses from the environment. By consuming decaying tissue, they physically eliminate pathogens before they can proliferate. Vultures, for instance, possess highly acidic stomachs that neutralize harmful bacteria like anthrax and botulism that would otherwise pose significant risks.

A whale of a cleanup job

For the Maritimes, with its long and dynamic coastline, the service provided by marine scavengers is equally critical. Consider the fate of a whale that dies at sea and washes ashore. Within days, a cleanup crew assembles that would be the envy of any municipal public works department. Even before it washes ashore, large marine species such as the great white shark can feast on the carcass.

Bald eagles arrive first, using their powerful beaks to tear into thick blubber. Coyotes emerge from coastal forests to gorge on the bounty, returning repeatedly over weeks. Gulls, ravens and crows attend as constant scrap-pickers, while even small mammals like voles gnaw on remaining sinew and bone.

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If the carcass washes back out to sea and sinks to the ocean floor, it triggers an entirely different, multi-stage cleanup event known as a “whale fall.” In the depths of the North Atlantic, hagfish and sleeper sharks first strip the soft tissue at astonishing rates. Later, the bones are colonized by Osedax worms — dramatically nicknamed “zombie worms” — which bore into the skeleton to extract lipids. This natural disposal system operates for decades, recycling a massive carcass entirely without human intervention.

This natural sanitation also has economic implications. Municipalities and provincial transportation departments often bear the cost of removing roadkill and beached carcasses, requiring staff, equipment and landfill space. When an eagle cleans a shoreline or a deep-sea worm recycles a whale skeleton, they are saving taxpayers real money.

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However, we must be careful not to take this crew for granted. Scavengers are vulnerable to the very thing we ask them to clean up. Road mortality poses a deadly risk to scavengers attracted to roadkill. The use of poisons and lead ammunition has devastating secondary effects on eagles and hawks. Pollution and habitat destruction threaten the health of marine scavengers, and climate-driven changes to ocean conditions may alter the delicate timing of whale fall communities.

As we manage our woodlots, plan our coastal communities, and protect our fisheries, we must adopt a “one health” perspective that recognizes the interconnection between human, animal and environmental health. Supporting a healthy scavenger population means ensuring they have a safe food supply free from toxins. It means maintaining the wild corridors and clean coastal waters they need to do their job.

The next time you see a vulture circling, a coyote trotting along a shoreline, or even think about the creatures inhabiting the depths of the North Atlantic, do not grimace. Thank them. They are on the clock, keeping the Maritimes clean the old-fashioned way. And that is a service worth protecting.

Geoffrey Hurley is a retired fisheries and environmental consultant living in Dartmouth, N.S. He can be reached at hurleyenvironment@gmail.com.

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