Peter Dettling’s new book “The Will of the Land” takes an important look at wolves and grizzlies in the region of Banff National Park.  Peter is a remarkable photographer and advocate for wildlife. The foreward is written by Raincoast’s Dr. Paul Paquet.

Check out Peter Dettling’s website and the book’s trailer  The Will of the Land

Edited by Richard P. Reading, Brian Miller, Amy L. Masching, Rob Edward, and Michael K. Phillips, the book offers fascinating insight on restoring the wolf population to the southern Rockies.  Detailed reports by wildlife biologists, geographers, legal and policy experts, and conservationists provide a comprehensive look at not only the ecological imperatives, but also the history, legal framework, and public attitudes affecting the future of wolves.

Read the chapter:   The Importance of Large Carnivores

Order the book from Amazon:  Awakening Spirits Wolves of the Southern Rockies

Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, John A. Ellis, Noriko Goji, Maëlle Gouix, Judit E. Smits

Citation:

Bryan, Heather M., Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, John A. Ellis, Noriko Goji, Maëlle Gouix, and Judit E. Smits. 2011. Exposure to infectious agents in dogs in remote coastal British Columbia: Possible sentinels of diseases in wildlife and humans. Can.J.Vet.Res. 75:11-17

Ab s t r a c t

Ranked among the top threats to conservation worldwide, infectious disease is of particular concern for wild canids because domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) may serve as sources and reservoirs of infection. On British Columbia’s largely undeveloped but rapidly changing central and north coasts, little is known about diseases in wolves (Canis lupus) or other wildlife. However, several threats exist for transfer of diseases among unvaccinated dogs and wolves. To gain baseline data on infectious agents in this area, including those with zoonotic potential, we collected blood and stool samples from 107 dogs in 5 remote communities in May and September 2007. Serology revealed that the dogs had been exposed to canine parvovirus, canine distemper virus,

Bordetella bronchiseptica, canine respiratory coronavirus, and Leptospira interrogans. No dogs showed evidence of exposure to Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi, Dirofilaria immitis, or Cryptococcus gattii. Of 75 stool samples, 31 contained at least 1 parasitic infection, including Taeniid tapeworms, the nematodes Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina, and the protozoans Isospora sp., Giardia sp., Cryptosporidium sp., and Sarcocystis sp. This work provides a sound baseline for future monitoring of infectious agents that could affect dogs, sympatric wild canids, other wildlife, and humans.

Conservation research can lead to unexpected findings. Sometimes these surprises relate to our core questions while other times they belong in a science fiction film.  One of these findings occurred while we were studying diseases that might harm wildlife in coastal BC. Though not what we set out to study, these types of discoveries are part of what makes science fun.

Internal parasites of black-tailed deer are found in wolf scat.

Many of us have probably felt a moment of panic at the sight of a little garden slug on a forkful of fresh salad en route to our mouths.  Raincoast scientists together with researchers from the Universities of Saskatchewan and Uppsala have found that wolves may have a similar experience while dining on deer.   The research team first noticed the unusual worm larvae in wolf scat during a survey of parasites in wolves.  Genetic analysis identified the microscopic worms as a parasite common to deer, but not wolves.   The likely explanation for its presence in wolf scat is that the worms were consumed by a wolf feasting on an infected deer and then passed through the wolf’s digestive tract into the faeces.

This result, which has been published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, highlights the value of using genetic techniques to improve identification of parasites in scat.

Download the paper

Human Predators in pdf

Diversity in wolves pdf

Munoz et al 2009.pdf

Conservation Genetics 2009 pdf

Faecal-centric approaches in pdf

Salmon and Wolves in pdf

Isotope niche predicts fitness. pdf

landscape fragmentation & wolves.pdf