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Latebreaking Poster

Session: Urban Ecosystems (Latebreaking)

LB 41-345 - Behind the mask: Using camera traps to unveil the role of raccoons in disease transmission in urban areas

Thursday, August 10, 2023
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
Location: ESA Exhibit Hall
Urbanization contributes to the loss and fragmentation of habitat for wildlife. Species are often relegated to smaller patches of suitable habitat which can lead to increased opportunities for contact, and thus disease transmission, between species. We investigated the increased potential for disease transmission using camera traps in urban parks around Little Rock, Arkansas. Data were collected via the Central Arkansas Urban Wildlife Project, which utilizes 30 game cameras stationed along an urban-to-rural gradient and captures photos seasonally during the months of January, April, July, and October each year. Since raccoons (Procyon lotor) act as intermediate hosts for the canine distemper virus (CDV), we studied contact between raccoons, gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Given the cold-resistant properties of CDV, we examined the fall and winter seasons from 2021. We calculated the number of encounters (target species captures occurring within one week of each raccoon capture at a given site) and mean encounter interval (the average time between encounters). We then ran linear and quadratic regressions for the number of encounters and the mean encounter interval (MEI) at each site against metrics of urbanization including artificial light at night (ALAN), impervious surface, and anthropogenic noise within a 500-meter radius of each site. Across all study seasons, gray foxes and raccoons co-occurred at 18 of the 30 sites and there were 397 total encounters. While dogs and raccoons co-occurred at 20 of the 30 sites and there were 619 total encounters. For the 2021 fall season, there were significant quadratic relationships between impervious surface and gray fox encounters (R2 = 0.14, p = 0.04) and between impervious surface and domestic dog encounters (R2 = 0.32, p = 0.04). For the 2021 winter season, there were significant quadratic relationships between ALAN and gray fox MEI (R2 = 0.31, p = 0.04) and noise and domestic dog MEI (R2 = 0.71, p = 0.02). These results suggest an increased risk of disease transmission from raccoons to dogs and gray foxes, but this risk diminishes after a 40% impervious surface threshold is reached. Our findings also suggest an increased risk for transmission of CDV to dogs that live near or visit more natural areas, which is a risk that should be communicated to pet owners by veterinarians, wildlife agencies, and pet adoption organizations.