We investigated the role of water features as focal attractors for gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Felis rufus) in west Texas to determine if they were foci for interspecific interaction. Mixed effects models indicated that species partitioned use of water features spatially and temporally. Linear models indicated factors influencing relative activity at water features varied by species. For coyotes and bobcats, the water availability model, containing days since last rainfall and nearest‐neighbor distance to water was best supported by the data, with relative activity increasing with time between rainfall and distance between waters. For gray foxes, the best approximating model indicated that relative activity was inversely correlated to coyote and bobcat activity indices, and positively correlated to topographical complexity. Encounters between carnivore species were low, with most occurring between coyotes and gray foxes, followed by coyotes and bobcats, and bobcats and gray foxes. These findings suggest a behavioral‐environmental mechanism that may function to modulate resource partitioning by carnivores in the arid West. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.
Little is known about the immunogenicity of RABORAL V-RG(®) (V-RG), an oral rabies vaccine, in raccoon kits (Procyon lotor). The objectives of this study were to characterize the immunogenicity of V-RG in young kits and investigate the potential impact of maternal antibodies on response to vaccination of nursing raccoon kits. Raccoon kits (n=30) were vaccinated at either 3 weeks of age, 7 weeks of age, or assigned as contact controls. Nineteen kits (73%) that were whelped by unvaccinated mothers responded to V-RG exposure (orally or indirect contact) by production of detectable rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) while 7 (27%) kits did not respond to V-RG exposure. Four kits were whelped by a mother with high levels of RVNA and all four kits acquired maternal rabies antibodies. At approximately 9 months of age, all kits were inoculated with a killed rabies vaccine, IMRAB3(®). The kits which initially responded to V-RG oral vaccination or contact with vaccinated littermates demonstrated a rapid anamnestic response. In contrast, the V-RG non-responders and those with acquired maternal antibodies exhibited a primary immune response to IMRAB3(®), where RVNA levels were substantially lower on days 5 and 7 than the levels in the animals with an anamnestic response. These findings suggest that the naïve contact kits and the nonresponsive kits most likely remained susceptible to rabies virus infection whereas the ones demonstrating response to V-RG would not have been susceptible to a rabies virus infection.
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