A study of fox (Vulpes vulpes) visits to farm buildings in Southwest England and the implications for disease management

Tolhurst, Bryony A.; Ward, Alastair I.; Delahay, Richard J.

doi:10.1007/s10344-011-0523-0

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In France, a study carried out in Côte d’Or based on camera monitoring at 101 points located in pastures and farm buildings and considered attractive for wildlife (water and food access), revealed that the fox is the most frequent wild species to visit these sites compared to badgers and wild ungulates [ 24 , 25 ]. Previous study in England and Ireland also showed that foxes visited cattle buildings very frequently [ 26 , 27 ]. In cattle sheds, foxes were observed predating rodents [ 26 ] but also in feeding troughs [ 25 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Red Foxes in Four Animal Tuberculosis Endemic Areas in France

Richomme

Réveillaud²,

Moyen³

et al. 2020

Microorganisms

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In France, animal tuberculosis (TB) due to Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) affects a multi-host community that include cattle and wildlife species such as wild boars (Sus scrofa), badgers (Meles meles), or wild deer (Cervus elaphus, Capreolus capreolus). The involvement of foxes in the epidemiology of TB is fairly described in countries facing multispecies concerns. After the discovery of grouped cases of TB in foxes in a French TB endemic region, a study was implemented in the core of four TB endemic areas in Dordogne, Charente, Landes (departments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region), and Côte-d’Or (Burgundy-Franche-Comté region). No infected fox was found in Côte-d’Or (n = 146), where in parallel TB in cattle and other wild species became sparse in the last years. In contrast, in Dordogne, Charente, and Landes, 13 (n = 184), 9 (n = 98) and 7 (n = 140) foxes were found infected by M. bovis, respectively, corresponding to 7.1% (CI95% 3.8–11.8%), 9.2% (4.3–16.7%) and 5.0% (CI95% 2.0–10.0%) prevalence rates, respectively. These infection rates are comparable with those observed in badgers and wild boar in these same three areas (ranging from 9 to 13.2% and 4.3 to 17.9%, respectively), where the number of cattle outbreaks has increased in the last 10-15 years. In each area, the genotypes of foxes’ M. bovis isolates were the same as those in local cattle and other wildlife species. None of the infected foxes presented TB-like gross lesions. M. bovis was found in the mesenteric lymph nodes of 28 foxes (68%). For the 12 foxes where retropharyngeal and respiratory lymph nodes were analyzed separately, M. bovis was present in the respiratory lymph nodes of eight individuals. With regard to excretion, appropriate samples were available for 12 infected foxes from Dordogne. M. bovis DNA was detected in the feces of five of these animals, four of which were infected in the mesenteric lymph nodes. Combined with the knowledge on the biology and ecology of foxes, the results of this study suggest that in areas where infection in cattle is still active in France, foxes might play a role of spillover host in the epidemiology of M. bovis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Previous study in England and Ireland also showed that foxes visited cattle buildings very frequently [ 26 , 27 ]. In cattle sheds, foxes were observed predating rodents [ 26 ] but also in feeding troughs [ 25 ]. This behaviour can lead to indirect exposure to M. bovis bacilli excreted by cattle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Red Foxes in Four Animal Tuberculosis Endemic Areas in France

Richomme

Réveillaud²,

Moyen³

et al. 2020

Microorganisms

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“…Bovine tuberculosis transmission is thought to occur primarily through direct contact, but its ability to persist in the environment has raised questions about the role of indirect transmission routes [64,65]. Likewise, wildlife scent marking behavior at the human-livestock interface is of concern since some wildlife species (e.g., foxes, badgers) preferentially use farm food storage buildings for foraging and scent-marking which heightens pathogen transmission risk [66,67]. Scent marking may also influence the success of species reintroductions and population management: introducing translocated animals into an established territorial population may increase transmission risk because of increased overlap in home ranges or direct contacts [68].…”

Section: Plos Computational Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

A mechanistic, stigmergy model of territory formation in solitary animals: Territorial behavior can dampen disease prevalence but increase persistence

2020

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Although movement ecology has leveraged models of home range formation to explore the effects of spatial heterogeneity and social cues on movement behavior, disease ecology has yet to integrate these potential drivers and mechanisms of contact behavior into a generalizable disease modeling framework. Here we ask how dynamic territory formation and maintenance might contribute to disease dynamics in a territorial, solitary predator for an indirectly transmitted pathogen. We developed a mechanistic individual-based model where stigmergy-the deposition of signals into the environment (e.g., scent marking, scraping)dictates local movement choices and long-term territory formation, but also the risk of pathogen transmission. Based on a variable importance analysis, the length of the infectious period was the single most important variable in predicting outbreak success, maximum prevalence, and outbreak duration. Host density and rate of pathogen decay were also key predictors. We found that territoriality best reduced maximum prevalence in conditions where we would otherwise expect outbreaks to be most successful: slower recovery rates (i.e., longer infectious periods) and higher conspecific densities. However, for slower pathogen decay rates, stigmergy-driven movement increased outbreak durations relative to random movement simulations. Our findings therefore support a limited version of the "territoriality benefits" hypothesis-where reduced home range overlap leads to reduced opportunities for pathogen transmission, but with the caveat that reduction in outbreak severity may increase the likelihood of pathogen persistence. For longer infectious periods and higher host densities, key trade-offs emerged between the strength of pathogen load, the strength of the stigmergy cue, and the rate at which those two quantities decayed; this finding raises interesting questions about the evolutionary nature of these competing processes and the role of possible feedbacks between parasitism and territoriality. This work also highlights the importance of considering social cues as part of the movement landscape in order to better understand the consequences of individual behaviors on population level outcomes.

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“…Second, due to our sampling design was composed by passive single-camera stations monitoring restricted areas during delimited periods, it prevented us from better describing social signaling behaviors potentially involved in disease transmission, such as sniffing, rolling, defecating, urinating. According to previous studies, cross-species scent marking could potentially promote the persistence and spread of pathogens released into feces and urine of dogs and foxes interacting at the wildlife-domestic interface [e.g., ( 24 , 43 , 90 , 91 )], which may be mediated by the interplay between prolonged shedding (e.g., CDV) and extended environmental resistance (e.g., CPV) characterizing several multi-host pathogens ( 92 ). Third, because random camera sampling could only record indirect interactions derived from animal movement through the landscape, perhaps the simultaneous monitoring of aggregation points (i.e., known canid paths) by camera trapping, and individual tracking with GPS telemetry or proximity loggers may be alternative approaches to account for more precise dog-fox interaction frequencies and their related temporal patterns ( 93 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic Dogs and Wild Foxes Interactions in a Wildlife-Domestic Interface of North-Central Chile: Implications for Multi-Host Pathogen Transmission

et al. 2021

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Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) often cohabite at interfaces shared by humans and wildlife, interacting with wild canids as predators, prey, competitors and reservoirs of several multi-host pathogens, such as canid-borne micro and macro parasites that could impact on wildlife, livestock and public health. However, spatio-temporal patterns of indirect interactions as promoters of pathogen transfer between domestic and wild canids are largely unknown. In this study, we used camera traps to describe the activity patterns and habitat use of dogs, chilla (Lycalopex griseus) and culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus) foxes and identify the local-scale factors that may affect the frequency of dog-fox interactions through an anthropization gradient of the Coquimbo region, Chile. We assessed local-scale variables that may predict the number of interactions between dogs and foxes, and compared the time interval between dog-culpeo and dog-chilla interactions. Our findings suggested that closeness to urbanized zones predicts the frequency of indirect interactions between dogs and foxes. We found higher number of dog-fox interactions (60 interactions) at a periurban site adjacent to two coastal towns (Tongoy and Guanaqueros), compared to other two more undisturbed sites (12 interactions) increasingly distanced from urbanized areas. We showed that dogs interacted more frequently with chilla foxes (57 interactions) than with culpeo foxes (15 interactions), and the first interaction type occurred almost exclusively at the periurban site, where dogs and chillas were more frequently detected than in the other sites. We detected a marked temporal segregation between dogs and foxes, but dog-chilla interactions resulted in shorter time intervals (2.5 median days) compared to dog-culpeo interactions (7.6 median days), suggesting a higher potential risk of pathogen spillover between the first species pairing. Based on previous studies, we suggest periurban zones may constitute a potential focus of pathogen exposure between dog and fox populations in the study area. Our research contributes to improving the knowledge on the spatio-temporal patterns of interspecific contact between invasive and native carnivores within the context of multi-host pathogen dynamics. Our outcomes will inform theoretical epidemiological models designed to predict and minimize the contact risk between domestic and threatened species, guiding effective control strategies at the wildlife-domestic interface.

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A study of fox (Vulpes vulpes) visits to farm buildings in Southwest England and the implications for disease management

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Red Foxes in Four Animal Tuberculosis Endemic Areas in France

Mycobacterium bovis Infection in Red Foxes in Four Animal Tuberculosis Endemic Areas in France

A mechanistic, stigmergy model of territory formation in solitary animals: Territorial behavior can dampen disease prevalence but increase persistence

Domestic Dogs and Wild Foxes Interactions in a Wildlife-Domestic Interface of North-Central Chile: Implications for Multi-Host Pathogen Transmission

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