Benefits of incorporating a scat-detection dog into wildlife monitoring: a case study of Pyrenean brown bear

Abstract

Monitoring wildlife can be challenging, especially when animals are rare, elusive, solitary, largely nocturnal, highly mobile, far-ranging, and/or inhabiting remote or rugged habitats. The critically endangered Pyrenean brown bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) population is one such example, living in a mountain range peaking at 3,404 m above sea-level on the border of France, Spain and Andorra. Human persecution pushed this population to the edge of extinction in the mid-1990s with only five individuals present (Taberlet et al. 1997).

Estimating abundance of a recovering transboundary brown bear population with capture-recapture models

“…Our results suggest that annual size of the Pyrenean brown bear population displayed a fivefold rise between 2008 and 2020, reaching > 60 individuals in 2020. This increase is mainly due to translocations of bears originated from Slovenia (1 male in 2016 and 2 females in 2018) combined with regular reproduction events during the study period (Sentilles et al 2021b). While this is encouraging for the short-term viability of the population, the fate of this critically endangered population (UICN France et al 2017) is still uncertain due to high consanguinity, geographic isolation, fragmentation and small population size, which makes it particularly vulnerable to demographic, environmental and genetic aleas (Chapron et al 2009; Le Maho et al 2013; Beaumelle 2016).…”

“…Opportunistic monitoring (OM) corresponded to the opportunistic collection (with no specific sampling design) throughout the bear potential range (covering > 10,000 km 2 ) of all bear presence signs (such as hair, scats, tracks, scratches, eating clues, visual observations…) gathered by various mountain users, as well as all putative bear damages on livestock and beehives, after examination and approval of an expert agent (De Barba et al 2010). Since 2014, verification of testimonies and damage reports have been occasionnaly carried out with the help of a scat-detection dog trained to search for brown bear scats (Sentilles et al 2021b). Only hair and scat samples collected during the same period as the systematic monitoring were included in this study.…”

“…Trails were set in function of available bear habitats and passage areas detected using VHF and GPS collars or bear presence signs. Transect staff accompanied occasionally by a scat detection dog (Sentilles et al 2021b) searched for bear hair and scats on trails and in their immediate surroundings. To improve the chances of getting hair samples, between five and seven hair traps were scattered along each itinerary.…”

Noninvasive Genetics Knowledge from the Brown Bear Populations to Assist Biodiversity Conservation

“…Approximately 1 cm 3 of scat sample [90,119] was collected with a wood stick [107] and stored in a collection tube/bag [69] in most of the reviewed studies. According to the instructions, the scat sample should be collected from the outer layer (no ground contact) and not from the scat top because the DNA from there could have been washed by rain [59].…”

The Use and Potential of Biomedical Detection Dogs During a Disease Outbreak

“…The next period runs approximately from 2010 to 2020 in which the field of biomedical detection dogs expands beyond cancer and into the variety of subdisciplines ( Table 2 ). This ten-year period is marked by an explosion of canine detection research resulting in a growing list of detectable human diseases by BMDDs and BMDDs able to detect virus [bovine viral diarrhea virus ( 10 )], bacteria [C. difficile ( 7 ), Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus ( 9 )], pests (brown tree snakes ( 22 ), palm weevils ( 23 ), gypsy moths ( 24 ), longhorn beetles ( 25 ), termites ( 26 ), bed bugs ( 27 ), and quagga and zebra mussels ( 28 ), fouling agents [catfight off-flavoring compounds ( 29 ), microbial growth in buildings ( 30 )], animals important to conservation efforts [grizzly and black bears ( 31 ), brown bears ( 32 ), geckos and tuataras ( 33 ), tortoises ( 34 ), quolls ( 35 ), jackals ( 36 ), giant bullfrogs ( 37 ), wolves ( 38 ), rabbits ( 39 ), rock ptarmigans ( 40 ), bats ( 41 ), koalas ( 42 ), kit foxes ( 43 ), tigers ( 44 ), cougars ( 45 ), cheetahs ( 46 ), bobcats ( 47 ), and gorillas ( 48 )], and disease odor directly on humans [Parkinson’s ( 49 ), epilepsy ( 50 ), diabetes ( 16 , 51 )].…”