Dark History: Methyl Mercury Poisoning in Coastal Sea Wolves

Ninetoes dips his remaining digits into the nefarious element mercury, the only liquid that isn’t wet, and tells us what it’s doing to a wolf pack in British Columbia.

Hey there, history lovers! It is your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes HQ. Today, I am looking at methylmercury poisoning in coastal wolves. I have coffee in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

A friend of mine (*editor’s note: That would be me—TRC) suggested I watch the 1979 movie Prophecy. Now, where some may view the mutated bear as the villain in the movie, it is actually industrialization, namely the mercury used in a paper mill to treat the logs. The mercury got into the water, thus getting into the wildlife and consequently, the people as well. You would think things have changed in forty-seven years. Unfortunately, they have not.

A 2025 study led by the University of Calgary ecotoxicologist, Ben Barst, discovered that the Vancouver Coastal Sea Wolf has been greatly affected by high levels of mercury from their diet. Unlike their mainland counterparts, the gray wolf, whose diet is from moose, elk, deer, and smaller mammals, a coastal sea wolf’s diet is 75-90% marine-based. They feed on salmon, seals, shellfish, and sea otters.

So, where does the mercury come from? Well, mercury is a naturally occurring element that is released into the environment through industrial processes like burning coal or mining for gold. When the mercury gets into water systems, it transforms into methyl mercury, which can move up the food chain and accumulate in top predators.

The exact health impacts of methyl mercury on the coastal sea wolves are still under investigation. High levels of methyl mercury can lead to organ damage, neurological deficiencies, and reduced reproduction in the wild. Mercury was linked to the death of a young wolf in Alaska, and researchers are investigating similar risks in the British Columbia wolf populations.

It should be noted that the Coastal Sea Wolves first started showing signs of methyl mercury poisoning in 2020 with the death of a collared wolf, number 202006. This wolf was collared for a predation study (a study on the relation between predator and prey and how it affects behavior, population dynamics, and the ecological balance of the species involved), and her death in 2020 was the first documented case of methyl mercury poisoning in coastal wolves. Scientists went back and studied samples gathered as far back as 2000 to see how far back mercury poisoning was prevalent in Coastal Sea Wolves.

Even though the first sign of methyl mercury poisoning came in 2020 from a wolf already under study, I have to wonder how far back these incidents actually go. Considering the second industrial revolution started in the 1870’s, and the burning of coal is a leading cause of mercury entering water systems, it is a wonder we did not see any of these cases sooner.

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

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