Demography, Hunting Ecology, and Pathogen Exposure of Domestic Dogs in the Isoso of Bolivia

Abstract

Disease is increasingly recognized as a threat to the conservation of wildlife, and in many cases the source of disease outbreaks in wild carnivores is the domestic dog. For disease to spill over from a domestic to a wild population, three conditions must be satisfied: susceptibility of the wild species, presence of the disease agent in the domestic population, and contact between the two populations of interest. We investigated the potential for disease spillover from the domestic dog population to the wild carnivore population in the Isoso of Bolivia, an area of tropical dry forest contiguous with a national park. Using questionnaires and discussions with residents, we gathered data on the demography of dogs in the Isoso, including adult and neonatal mortality, litter size, and hunting frequency. We analyzed a large data set containing self-recorded information on hunting in various communities of the Isoso to determine the extent of dog participation in hunting and the duration of hunting trips. Finally, we took blood samples from dogs in the Isoso for a serosurvey of common canine pathogens. More than 95% of dogs had positive titers to canine distemper virus and canine parvovirus. There was also a high seroprevalence in dogs for other pathogens, a high population turnover of dogs (which may allow diseases to be maintained endemically), and frequent opportunities for contact between domestic and wild carnivores. Based on our results and the susceptibility of wild species previously reported in the literature, domestic dogs represent a disease risk for wildlife in the Bolivian Isoso.

Domestic dog health worsens with socio-economic deprivation of their home communities

“…Additionally, dogs can transmit generalist intestinal helminths by defecating out in areas where wild mammals can come into contact with infective eggs. Dogs are often used for hunting and can even come into contact with wildlife through territorial conflicts (Fiorello et al 2006). …”

Endoparasites in domestic animals surrounding an Atlantic Forest remnant, in São Paulo State, Brazil

“…In areas with high biodiversity such as Latin America, domestic dogs pose serious risks to native species due to the ease with which they enter the forest, by acting as a reservoir for some infectious diseases and by preying on and competing with wild species (BUTLER & BINGHAM, 2000;BUTLER & DU TOIT, 2002;FIORELLO et al, 2006;GALETTI & SAZIMA, 2006;OLIVEIRA et al, 2008).…”

Domestic dogs in Atlantic forest preserves of south-eastern Brazil: a camera-trapping study on patterns of entrance and site occupancy rates

“…Past studies have explored the presence of domestic dogs in wild areas or their impact on wild species (Herranz et al, 2002;Butler et al, 2004;Manor and Saltz, 2004;Anderson et al, 2006), however few studies have been conducted in Neotropical forests. These include predation on native species (Kruuk and Snell, 1981;Barnett and Rudd, 1983), potential disease transmission (Ryan et al, 2003;Fiorello et al, 2004;Deem and Emmons, 2005;McFadden et al, 2005;Fiorello et al, 2006), and social biology of free-roaming dogs (Daniels and Bekoff, 1989;Fielding and Mather, 2001). In Brazil there is some information of domestic dog impacts on native fauna (Horowitz, 1992;Lacerda, 2002;Galetti and Sazima, 2006), observation of dog attacks to other domestic animals (Oliveira and Cavalcanti, 2002;Cavalcanti, 2003), dog presence in protected areas (Alves, 2003;Srbek-Araujo and Chiarello, 2005) and potential disease transmission (Courtnay et al, 2001).…”