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Contact rates of wild-living and domestic dog populations in Australia: a new approach

  • Behavioral ecology – original research
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Abstract

Dogs (Canis familiaris) can transmit pathogens to other domestic animals, humans and wildlife. Both domestic and wild-living dogs are ubiquitous within mainland Australian landscapes, but their interactions are mostly unquantified. Consequently, the probability of pathogen transfer among wild-living and domestic dogs is unknown. To address this knowledge deficit, we established 65 camera trap stations, deployed for 26,151 camera trap nights, to quantify domestic and wild-living dog activity during 2 years across eight sites in north-east New South Wales, Australia. Wild-living dogs were detected on camera traps at all sites, and domestic dogs recorded at all but one. No contacts between domestic and wild-living dogs were recorded, and limited temporal overlap in activity was observed (32 %); domestic dogs were predominantly active during the day and wild-living dogs mainly during the night. Contact rates between wild-living and between domestic dogs, respectively, varied between sites and over time (range 0.003–0.56 contacts per camera trap night). Contact among wild-living dogs occurred mainly within social groupings, and peaked when young were present. However, pup emergence occurred throughout the year within and between sites and consequently, no overall annual cycle in contact rates could be established. Due to infrequent interactions between domestic and wild-living dogs, there are likely limited opportunities for pathogen transmission that require direct contact. In contrast, extensive spatial overlap of wild and domestic dogs could facilitate the spread of pathogens that do not require direct contact, some of which may be important zoonoses.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous referees who provided valuable comments on the manuscript. Funding for this research was provided by the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Wildlife and Exotic Disease Preparedness Program, 2012–2013. J.S is an Australian Postgraduate Award and UNE Apted scholar recipient, supervised by Dr Wendy Brown through the University of New England’s School of Environmental and Rural Science. We also thank all private landholders for allowing camera monitoring stations to be erected on their properties.

Author contribution statement

JS, GB and PJSF conceived and designed the experiments. JS performed the experiments. JS and RV analysed the data. JS, GB, PJSF and GK wrote the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia

    Jessica Sparkes, Guy Ballard, Peter J. S. Fleming & Gerhard Körtner

  2. Vertebrate Pest Research Unit, Biosecurity NSW, Locked Bag 6006, Orange, NSW, 2800, Australia

    Jessica Sparkes & Peter J. S. Fleming

  3. Vertebrate Pest Research Unit, Biosecurity NSW, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia

    Guy Ballard & Gerhard Körtner

  4. Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia

    Jessica Sparkes, Guy Ballard, Peter J. S. Fleming & Gerhard Körtner

  5. Biometrics and Research Business Unit, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, NSW, 2800, Australia

    Remy van de Ven

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  1. Jessica Sparkes
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Correspondence to Jessica Sparkes.

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Ethical approval

Research was conducted with approval from the UNE Animal Ethics Committee (AEC13-007) and under National Parks and Wildlife Services scientific licence SL101145. All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Communicated by Hannu J. Ylonen.

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Sparkes, J., Ballard, G., Fleming, P.J.S. et al. Contact rates of wild-living and domestic dog populations in Australia: a new approach. Oecologia 182, 1007–1018 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3720-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3720-4

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