Southern Extension of Raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) range in Vietnam with comments on its conservation status in the country

Abstract

Although the Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) has a wide global distribution, little is known about its population in Vietnam. The species is considered rare in Vietnam and few records have been published since 2004; though it is worth noting that all of these records were wildlife trade observations or anecdotal reports. Here we report Raccoon dogs recorded in the illegal wildlife trade via Facebook monitoring from January to December 2020, rescued animals documented in the same province caught by a hunter in August 2020, and camera trap records of the species detected in Pu Mat National Park in May and July 2021. Our camera trap records represent a southern extension of the known range of this species in Vietnam, and is the first known instance of the Racoon dogs recorded in-situ by camera traps in the country.