Cerrado’s maned wolves, squeezed by humans, may be picking up mange from dogs

[UngulateNerd92]

• Eight maned wolves losing their fur have been seen along the border between the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in Brazil in recent years.
• They were diagnosed with sarcoptic mange, or canine scabies, an infestation by a burrowing mite that also occurs in domestic dogs.
• Researchers suspect the infestation is the result of contact with domestic dogs, which increasingly come into contact with wildlife as human settlements and activities eat into the wolf’s habitat.
• The transformation of the species’ native Cerrado habitat for soy cultivation and cattle ranching, combined with the clearing of dense vegetation in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, have pushed the maned wolf into these latter landscapes in recent years.

It was 11:30 in the morning on Feb. 4 this year. A gray sky threatened heavy rains. Everything was calm as usual at the front gate of the Brejão Farm, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Arceburgo, a town of 10,000 in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Luiz Máximo Gonçalves Filho, 53, was wrapping up his shift as a security guard.

“I saw an animal approaching, but there was something wrong with it,” he told Mongabay. “When it got closer, I could see it was a maned wolf, but without a hair on its body.”

A few hours later, at 2:30 p.m., the maned wolf reappeared. The rain was now falling hard. Gonçalves Filho was alerted to it by a flock of stork-like seriema birds, which started running away.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...humans-may-be-picking-up-mange-from-dogs/amp/

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

• Eight maned wolves losing their fur have been seen along the border between the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in Brazil in recent years.
• They were diagnosed with sarcoptic mange, or canine scabies, an infestation by a burrowing mite that also occurs in domestic dogs.
• Researchers suspect the infestation is the result of contact with domestic dogs, which increasingly come into contact with wildlife as human settlements and activities eat into the wolf’s habitat.
• The transformation of the species’ native Cerrado habitat for soy cultivation and cattle ranching, combined with the clearing of dense vegetation in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, have pushed the maned wolf into these latter landscapes in recent years.

It was 11:30 in the morning on Feb. 4 this year. A gray sky threatened heavy rains. Everything was calm as usual at the front gate of the Brejão Farm, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Arceburgo, a town of 10,000 in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Luiz Máximo Gonçalves Filho, 53, was wrapping up his shift as a security guard.

“I saw an animal approaching, but there was something wrong with it,” he told Mongabay. “When it got closer, I could see it was a maned wolf, but without a hair on its body.”

A few hours later, at 2:30 p.m., the maned wolf reappeared. The rain was now falling hard. Gonçalves Filho was alerted to it by a flock of stork-like seriema birds, which started running away.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...humans-may-be-picking-up-mange-from-dogs/amp/

I haven't personally seen this but I have heard of it happening in SP state and as the article states it is caused by contact with domestic dogs.

A lot of farms allow their dogs to breed and the offspring or the dogs themselves to run feral in protected areas which causes zoonosis of protozoal parasites as well as other problems like attacks to maned wolves as well as species like giant anteaters.

Also as urbanization tears through these wild areas and pushes up against the borders and buffer zones of protected areas and dissolves these you get the same problem with regards to feral dogs and cats.

If I remember correctly in some National parks of Goiás State in Central Brazil they have even implemented culling of feral dogs in these areas to reduce the impact on wildlife (which seems like the best option / policy to me).

That said, the maned wolf unlike many other species of the Cerrado is an incredibly adaptive animal and is adapting to urbanization and even increasing its range in step with human deforestation of the Amazon (again as the article suggests).