Veterinary Medicine Commons^™

Evaluation Of Mitigation Translocation As A Management Tool To Reduce Conflicts Between Humans And American Kestrels, Brian E. Washburn

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raptor‐aircraft collisions (bird strikes) pose a serious safety risk to civil aircraft. Even smaller raptors, such as American kestrels (Falco sparverius), can be problematic within airport environments. Given widespread declines in kestrel populations, public interest, logistical and financial constraints, and other factors, managing kestrels at airports presents some unique challenges. I conducted a study to determine which biological (e.g., age and sex of the bird) and logistical factors (e.g., month and translocation distance) might influence the return of American kestrels live‐captured and translocated from 42 civil airports and military airbases within the contiguous USA during 2016–2021. American kestrels …

Wildlife Monitoring With Drones: A Survey Of End Users, Raymond B. Iglay, Landon R. Jones, Jared E. Elmore, Kristine O. Evans, Sathish Samiappan, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Brad F. Blackwell

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rapid advancements in technology often yield research inquiry into novel applications and drone (i.e., unoccupied aircraft systems or UAS) applications in wildlife management are no exception. We questioned the time lag between drone‐related research and end‐user assessments. We implemented an online, cross‐sectional survey of wildlife professionals to better understand current drone use and benefits or concerns, complemented by a review of contemporary peer‐reviewed and gray literature. We found little disparity between scientific inquiry and end‐user experiences (i.e., similar trends among concerns in published literature and survey results). Exploring new (i.e., advancements in computer vision) and refining original drone applications (i.e., …

Low Secondary Risks For Turkey Vultures From A Sodium Nitrite Toxic Bait For Wild Pigs, Justin A. Foster, John C. Kinsey, Michael J. Lavelle, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Nathan P. Snow

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

An acute and orally‐delivered toxic bait for wild pigs (Sus scrofa) containing sodium nitrite (SN) is being developed and tested for potential registration in the U.S. We evaluated oral toxicity of SN and risk of secondary consumption in a common avian scavenger, the turkey vulture (Carthartes aura), by 1) conducting an acute oral toxicity test (LD₅₀) for turkey vultures by oral gavage, and 2) allowing turkey vultures to feed on whole carcasses and digestive tracts of wild pigs that died from consuming SN‐laden bait. Captive tests were conducted during fall 2016 and spring 2017 in the …

A Method For Characterizing Disease Emergence Curves From Paired Pathogen Detection And Serology Data, Joshua Hewitt, Grete Wilson-Henjum, Derek T. Collins, Jourdan M. Ringenberg, Christopher A. Quintanal, Robert Pleszewski, Jeffrey C. Chandler, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Wildlife disease surveillance programs and research studies track infection and identify risk factors for wild populations, humans and agriculture. Often, several types of samples are collected from individuals to provide more complete information about an animal's infection history. Methods that jointly analyse multiple data streams to study disease emergence and drivers of infection via epidemiological process models remain underdeveloped. Joint-analysis methods can more thoroughly analyse all available data, more precisely quantifying epidemic processes, outbreak status, and risks.

2. We contribute a paired data modelling approach that analyses multiple samples from individuals. We use ‘characterization maps’ to link paired data …

Comparing Efficiencies Of Population Control Methods For Responding To Introductions Of Transboundary Animal Diseases In Wild Pigs, Nathan P. Snow, Benjamin Smith, Michael J. Lavelle, Michael P. Glow, Kayleigh Chalkowski, Bruce R. Leland, Sarah Sherburne, Justin W. Fischer, Keely J. Kohen, Seth M. Cook, Hatton Smith, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Ryan S. Miller, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Introductions of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) into free-ranging wildlife can be difficult to control and devastating for domestic livestock trade. Combating a new TAD introduction in wildlife with an emergency response requires quickly limiting spread of the disease by intensely removing wild animals within a contiguous area. In the case of African swine fever virus (ASFv) in wild pigs (Sus scrofa), which has been spreading in many regions of the world, there is little information on the time- and cost-efficiency of methods for intensively and consistently culling wild pigs and recovering carcasses in an emergency response scenario. We compared the …

Temporal And Spatial Influences On Fawn Summer Survival In Pronghorn Populations: Management Implications From Noninvasive Monitoring, Cole A. Bleke, Eric M. Gese, Juan J. Villalba, Shane B. Roberts, Susannah S. French

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Monitoring vital rates allowsmanagers to estimate trends in growth rates of ungulate populations. However, connecting the influence of nutrition on ungulate demography is challenging. Noninvasive sampling offers a low-cost, low-effort alternative for measuring nutritional indices, allowing for an increased understanding of the mechanistic relationships between environmental factors, nutrition, and specific population vital rates. We examined the temporal influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) fawn recruitment. We collected fresh fecal samples from adult female pronghorn in five subpopulations spanning three sampling periods associated with critical maternal life-history stages (late gestation, early lactation, breeding season) for …

Susceptibilities And Viral Shedding Of Peridomestic Wildlife Infected With Clade 2.3.4.4b Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5n1), J. Jeffrey Root, Stephanie M. Porter, Julianna B. Lenoch, Jeremy W. Ellis, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We tested the ability of six peridomestic wildlife species to replicate a highly pathogenic (HP) clade 2.3.4.4b AIV (H5N1) isolated in the United States during 2022. All tested species replicated and shed virus, at least to some degree. Of the six species evaluated (house sparrows (Passer domesticus), European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), feral pigeons (Columba livia), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and cottontails (Sylvilagus sp.)), striped skunks and Virginia opossums shed the highest viral titers of 106.3 PFU/mL and 105.0 PFU/mL, respectively. Overall, the results of this …

Chronic Wasting Disease Effects On A Breeding Season Behavior In White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Miranda Hsiang-Ning Jacobson Huang, Stephen Demarais, Bronson K. Strickland, Allan Houston, Alejandro Banda, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife disease outbreaks can lead to population declines, which are usually attributed to increased direct or indirect mortality. Alternatively, behavior associated with sickness can lead to social isolation, potentially decreasing fitness of affected individuals. A useful case study to examine this dynamic is chronic wasting disease (CWD), a neurological disease of cervids, known to affect behavior and movement. In this study, we monitored scraping, a White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus; WTD) breeding season behavior, in an area of high CWD prevalence to determine if this reproductive behavior is affected by CWD. At 107 scrape sites, we detected 3,063 scrape interactions and …

Torque Teno Sus Virus 1: A Potential Surrogate Pathogen To Study Pig-Transmitted Transboundary Animal Diseases, Xiaolong Li, Brandon M. Parker, Raoul K. Boughton, James C. Beasley, Timothy J. Smyser, James D. Austin, Kim M. Pepin, Ryan S. Miller, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Samantha M. Wisely

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) among wild pigs (Sus scrofa) will aid in preventing the introduction or containment of TADs among wild populations. Given the challenges associated with studying TADs in free-ranging populations, a surrogate pathogen system may predict how pathogens may circulate and be maintained within wild free-ranging swine populations, how they may spill over into domestic populations, and how management actions may impact transmission. We assessed the suitability of Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1) to serve as a surrogate pathogen for molecular epidemiological studies in wild pigs by investigating …

Common Grackle (Quiscalus Quiscula) Predation Of A Great Lakes Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) Nest And Its Conservation Implications, Jade R. Arneson, Dennis A. Peloquin, Thomas G. Prestby, Sarah P. Saunders

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) was observed consuming eggs from an exclosed (protected) Great Lakes piping plover (Charadrius melodus) nest in the lower bay of Green Bay, Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, USA during June 2023. The observation, captured by a trail camera, is the first photographic documentation of grackle predation in any of the three piping plover breeding populations. This behavior adds common grackle to the suite of egg predators and has critical implications for this shorebird species, particularly in the Great Lakes region where piping plover is listed as federally endangered and common grackles are relatively …

Tracking Sero-Molecular Trends Of Swine Brucellosis In Hawai'i And The Central Pacific, Thi Hai Au La, Ian A. Mcmillan, Prashant Dahal, Andrew H. Burger, Mahdi Belcaid, Darrin M. Phelps, Samuel M. Goldstein, Vienna R. Brown, Michael H. Norris

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Introduction

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of mammals caused by bacterial species of the Brucella genus. The reservoir for disease is typically mammals, with species of Brucella found infecting amphibians, bats, and marine mammals. Brucella spp. can pass directly to humans through contact with infected animals or their products. Brucella spp. can cause chronic debilitating infections in mammals, including humans, and is associated with spontaneous abortions in infected animals, causing reduced fecundity. In Hawai‘i, terrestrial species that could harbor Brucella spp. include swine, cattle, horses, and axis deer among others. The numerous feral swine in Hawai‘i are known to carry …

Trichinella Murrelli Identified In Red Foxes (Vulpes Vulpes) In Pennsylvania, Usa, Jitender Dubey, Peter C. Thompson, Larissa S. De Araujo, Aditya Gupta, Sasha Kay, Oliver C. H. Kwok, Jaquin Battle, Kyle R. Van Why, Justin D. Brown, Benjamin Rosenthal

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Trichinella infections have been eliminated from pork where pigs are raised in biosecure facilities, but wildlife infections persist. Trichinella murrelli is the primary zoonotic species in wild carnivores in the United States, having been identified in several species of omnivores and carnivores. Here, we document its occurrence in seven of 21 (33.3%) red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) from six counties in Pennsylvania. Encysted Trichinella juveniles were detected in muscle squashes (< 5 g samples) of all seven foxes, and in histological sections of the tongue and limb muscle of three. Juveniles from muscle squashes were pooled and tested in a multiplex PCR capable of differentiating all Trichinella species native to the USA; all samples contained only T. murrelli. This is the first identification of T. murrelli in red foxes from Pennsylvania, …

The Influence Of Social And Spatial Processes On The Epidemiology Of Environmentally Transmitted Pathogens In Wildlife: Implications For Management, Aakash Pandey, Chris Wojan, Abigail Feuka, Meggan E. Craft, Kezia Manlove, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Social and spatial structures of host populations play important roles in pathogen transmission. For environmentally transmitted pathogens, the host space use interacts with both the host social structure and the pathogen’s environmental persistence (which determines the timelag across which two hosts can transmit). Together, these factors shape the epidemiological dynamics of environmentally transmitted pathogens. While the importance of both social and spatial structures and environmental pathogen persistence has long been recognized in epidemiology, they are often considered separately. A better understanding of how these factors interact to determine disease dynamics is required for developing robust surveillance and management strategies. Here, …

Bayesian Integrated Species Distribution Models For Hierarchical Resource Selection By A Soaring Bird, Ryo Ogawa, Guiming Wang, L. Wes Burger, Bronson Strickland, J. Brian Davis, Fred L. Cunningham

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Migratory birds exhibit seasonal geographic range (hereafter, range) dynamics during the annual cycle. Few studies have examined how migratory birds select their habitats for range occupancy at the species level and space use at the individual level simultaneously. We hypothesized that environmental variables directly related to fitness components would affect the range occupancy probabilities of migrants, whereas environment variables related to movements and flights would affect the space use intensities of migrants. We built Bayesian integrated species distribution models (ISDMs) to evaluate the effects of climate conditions, wind conditions, and landcover compositions on the seasonal range dynamics of American white …

Agricultural And Ecological Resources Safeguarded By The Prevention Of Wild Pig Population Expansion, Colin Jareb, Kim M. Pepin, Ryan S. Miller, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Sophie C. Mckee

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are one of the most destructive invasive species in the United States, known for causing extensive damage to agricultural commodities, natural resources, and property, and for transmitting diseases to livestock. Following the establishment of the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program (NFSDMP) in 2014, the expansion of wild pig populations has been successfully slowed. This paper combines two modeling approaches across eight separate models to characterize the expansion of wild pig populations in the absence of intervention by the NFSDMP and forecasts the value of a subset of resources safeguarded from the threat of …

Raccoon Density Estimation From Camera Traps For Raccoon Rabies Management, Amy J. Davis, Wesley C. Dixon, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert, Jacob E. Hill, James C. Beasley, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Guha Dharmarajan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Density estimation for unmarked animals is particularly challenging, yet density estimates are often necessary for effective wildlife management. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the primary terrestrial wildlife reservoir for Lyssavirus rabies within the United States. The raccoon rabies variant (RRVV) is actively managed at landscape scales using oral rabies vaccination (ORV) within the eastern United States. To effectively manage RRVV, it is important to know the density of raccoons to appropriately scale the density of ORV baits distributed on the landscape. We compared methods to estimate raccoon densities from camera‐trap data versus more intensive capture‐mark‐recapture (CMR) estimates across 2 …

Surveillance Of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus In Wild Canids From Pennsylvania, Usa, Kevin D. Niedringhaus, Taylor C. Chan, Ashley Mcdowell, Lauren Mxwell, Madison Stevens, Lane Potts, Erica Miller, Eman Anis, Kyle Van Why, Thomas Keller, David Stallknecht, Rebecca L. Poulson, Kaitlyn Bahrs, Justin D. Brown

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The avian influenza virus is a global pathogen with significant health and economic implications. While primarily a pathogen of wild and domestic birds, recent outbreaks of the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) clade 2.3.4.4b have caused mortality in a wide variety of mammals, including members of the Canidae family, on multiple continents. Despite sporadic mortality events globally, the epidemiology and pathobiology of H5N1 HPAIV in wild canids remains poorly defined. During 2022–2024, 41 wild canid carcasses (diagnostic cases), including 23 red foxes and 18 gray foxes, were tested for the influenza A virus (IAV) via PCR, with five …

Rabies, Amy T. Gilbert, Christine Ellis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Illustrated fact sheet on rabies.

Evaluating The Efficacy Of An Early Vaccination Strategy After Farrowing Using A Modified Live Prrs Vaccine And Post-Weaning Challenge With Thai Hp-Prrs, Apichart Prapattanakullawong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a major pathogen responsible for substantial economic losses in the global swine industry, adversely affecting both reproductive and respiratory health. In Thailand, early PRRSV infections in suckling and nursery pigs are commonly observed, necessitating the implementation of early vaccination strategies. However, early vaccination in young piglets has been controversial due to concerns about interfering maternal-derived antibodies (MDA) and the competency of the piglets' immune system. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a modified-live virus (MLV) PRRS vaccination in early-age piglets from PRRSV-positive farms by assessing immune responses …

Genotypic Characterization And Amr Risk Assessment Of Esbl- Producing And Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Salmonella Spp. From Pork Collected In Bangkok, Thawanrut Kiatyingangsulee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study aimed to 1) determine the prevalence of ESBL-producing and fluoroquinolone-resistant Salmonella in pork, 2) investigate their genomic characteristics, and 3) estimate the risk of consumer exposure. Pork samples were collected from 58 markets across 19 districts in Bangkok. The study focused on third-generation cephalosporin resistance mediated by ESBLs and fluoroquinolone resistance, representing horizontal and vertical gene transfer, respectively. Out of 793 pork samples, 339 (42.8%) were positive for Salmonella, yielding 531 isolates from 33 serotypes. The most common were Salmonella Rissen (22.6%), Sinstorf (16.8%), and Derby (10.2%). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed 28.2% of isolates were ESBL producers and …