Not normally seen. Look like worms.

Caught 20 mink up in NE Wi and they all had them. Anyone can add anything…Im curious.

Thanks

Only caught a few mink, but they all had that.

I’ve seen this in a raccoon trapping video and it confused me as I’ve never seen subcutaneous parasites. From what I’ve read it’s the Guinea worm??

Guinea worms common in the weasel family passed on by frogs also called leg worms often bunched up in the leg area.

^^^geez! Poor thing!!

Dracunculus worms

You will find them in mink, otter and raccoon

Aand that's why i wear gloves, lol.

I've never seen that type of parasite on mink, only the guinea worms on ankles of otter, mink, and coon. Old tick bites are getting to be more prevalent. I have caught just over 300 mink since retiring 16 years ago and have never
noticed anything to that degree. Had one that had wormlike markings on skin I passed off as old scars but maybe
not. Most of my mink were trapped around the Eau Claire area.
I've kept accurate records of all the animals I've caught since retiring and the last 4 or 5 years the mink catch has been declining and less and less mink sign noticed in areas I trap. Maybe this parasite is a contributing factor. I will pay more attention when skinning from now on. I going to skin one tomorrow and will post results.

Never seen them.

Not a problem for the critter anymore and not a problem for you if you cook them all the way. Lol.

A couple of years ago every mink I caught looked like the ones in the picture. Now I have very few mink on my line, only saw 1 set of tracks in the snow last year.

Always a good idea to check the liver before eating anything you catch, no matter how "safe" they say the animal is.

These are among the most dangerous parasites to humans. Beavers are not "supposed" to have them but eating grilled backstraps from this one would have been a huge risk.

Forgive my ignorance, but what am I looking at on that beavers liver?

Are they cysts?

Echinococcus cysts. It's not just the liver here, there are lesions on multiple other organs and most likely throughout the body, including the muscles. If you eat it, the larvae will travel to your liver, lungs, brain and other organs and make the same bubbly cysts where they settle. They are very difficult to treat because the cyst walls protect the parasites from drugs, so some of these cysts can only be removed surgically, if the location permits. Not fun.



They say foxes spread them, too, but stray dogs seem to be a key vector. Echinococcus spreads though dog poop.

Echinococcus cysts come from tapeworms too and are becoming more common in fox and coyotes around here

Oh mercy ! That would be more like sentence as.opposed to a diagnosis.

I remember back in the 80's there was supposed to be a worm in coon feces that would get in your eye and migrate to the brain never knew anyone that actually had it.

There is all kinds or worms in third world countries and more than likely are brought in by all kinds of ways.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...tic-brain-worms-like-the-one-rfk-jr-had/

This is a concern. It seemed the population was already affected. I live about 2 hours south of the area I was working and I haven’t seen it at home. It looks nasty, was worried it could be fatal.

Thanks all for your insights and comments!