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Evaluation Of Rhodamine B As A Biomarker For Raccoons, Tricia L. Fry, Todd Atwood, Mike R. Dunbar
Evaluation Of Rhodamine B As A Biomarker For Raccoons, Tricia L. Fry, Todd Atwood, Mike R. Dunbar
Human–Wildlife Interactions
The USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services (WS) oral rabies vaccination program uses tetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic and relatively reliable biomarker, to quantify vaccinebait uptake by raccoons (Procyon lotor). However, obtaining samples (e.g., bone or teeth) to assess tetracycline uptake is highly invasive, and sample preparation can be expensive. By contrast, rhodamine B, a commercially available dye, is absorbed systemically in growing tissues, including hair and whiskers, and can be observed under ultraviolet (UV) light as fluorescent orange bands. Our goal was to evaluate whether rhodamine B can be used as a biomarker to monitor bait uptake by raccoons. We began by …