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Abstract: The first report of the raccoon variant of rabies virus was in Ontario, Canada in 1999. As part of the control of this outbreak a Point Infection Control (PIC) strategy of trapping and euthanizing vector species was implemented. To evaluate whether this strategy was indeed removing diseased animals, rabies diagnosis was performed on these specimens. During a PIC program conducted in 2003, 721 animals (raccoons, striped skunks and red foxes) were collected and euthanized and brain material from each specimen was divided into two halves; one half was submitted for rabies diagnosis by a direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test while the other was tested using a sensitive real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), to detect raccoon rabies virus (RRV) RNA. This latter assay can detect less than ten viral copies in 200ng of total cellular RNA. All 721 PIC brain samples were negative by the DFA test but ten of them (5 raccoons, 5 skunks) tested positive for raccoon rabies virus by the RT-qPCR assay albeit at low levels. Three of these samples were confirmed by sequencing of the PCR products. Little correlation was observed between clinical rabies DFA positive scoring categories and viral copy number as determined by RT-qPCR. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Legal and illegal killing of animals near park borders can significantly increase the threat of extirpation for populations living within ecological reserves, especially for wide-ranging large carnivores that regularly travel into unprotected areas. While the consequences of human-caused mortality near protected areas generally focus on numerical responses, little attention has been given to impacts on social dynamics. For wolves, pack structure typically constitutes an unrelated breeding pair, their offspring, and close relatives, but intense harvest may increase adoption of unrelated individuals into packs. Concerns that high human-caused mortality outside Algonquin Park, Canada threatened the persistence of eastern wolves, led to implementation of a harvest ban in surrounding townships. We combined ecological and genetic data to show that reducing anthropogenic causes of mortality can restore the natural social structure of kin-based groups despite the absence of a marked change in density. Since implementation of the harvest ban, human-caused mortality has decreased (P =0.000006) but been largely offset by natural mortality, such that wolf density has remained relatively constant at approximately three wolves/100km2. However, the number of wolf packs with unrelated adopted animals has decreased from 80% to 6% (P =0.00003). Despite the high kinship within packs, incestuous matings were rare. Our results indicate that even in a relatively large protected area, human harvesting outside park boundaries can affect evolutionarily important social patterns within protected areas. This research demonstrates the need for conservation policy to consider effects of harvesting beyond influences on population size. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Four "races" of wolves have been described in Ontario as follows: 1) Canis lupus hudsonicus inhabiting the subarctic tundra, 2) A race (Ontario type) of the eastern timber wolf (Canis lupus lycaon) that inhabits the boreal forests, 3) A second race (Algonquin type) of C. l. lycaon that inhabit the deciduous forests of the upper Great Lakes, and 4) A small wolf (Tweed type) in central Ontario that has been proposed to be a hybrid between the Algonquin type wolf and expanding coyotes, Canis latrans. Using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences and 8 microsatellite loci, we developed DNA profiles for 269 wolves from across Ontario. The distribution of mtDNA was predominantly coyote and the eastern wolf, Canis lycaon, in Algonquin Park and the southern Frontenac Axis with a combination of these mtDNA and gray wolf mtDNA in northern Ontario. Bayesian clustering grouped northern Ontario wolves independent of mtDNA with a second grouping of eastern and Tweed wolves from Algonquin. Individual clustering identified 3 groups represented by 1) northern Ontario wolves, 2) eastern wolves, and 3) Tweed wolves from the Frontenac Axis. Genomic representation analyses indicate that the Tweed wolves are hybrids between the coyote and the eastern wolf and represent the Ontario distribution of the eastern coyote, whereas the wolves in the upper Great Lakes region represent products of historic and/or continuing hybridization between C. lycaon and C. lupus. There was low structuring among wolves in these regions, and Algonquin suggesting a larger northern connected metapopulation with gene flow between the Ontario and Algonquin types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correlation of landscape features with genetic discontinuities reveals barriers to dispersal that can contribute to understanding present and future spread of wildlife diseases. This knowledge can then be used for targeting control efforts. The impact of natural barriers on raccoon dispersal was assessed through genetic analysis of samples from two regions, Niagara ( N = 666) and St. Lawrence ( N = 802). These areas are transected by major rivers and are at the northern front of a raccoon rabies epizootic. Genetic clusters were identified in each region using Bayesian clustering algorithms. In the Niagara region, two clusters were identified corresponding to either side of the Niagara River. For the St. Lawrence region, spatially congruent clusters were not identified, despite the presence of the intervening St. Lawrence River. These genetic data are consistent with raccoon rabies incidence data where rabies has been detected across the St. Lawrence River in Ontario while no cases have been detected in Ontario across the Niagara River. This is despite expectations of rabies incidence in Niagara before the St. Lawrence based on the progression of rabies from New York. The results from the two regions suggest different permeabilities to raccoons between New York and Ontario that may be attributed to the rivers. However, other factors have also been explored that could contribute to this difference between these study sites including the shape of the landscape and resource distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent genetic data indicate that the eastern wolf is not a subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus), but is a North American wolf more similar to the red wolf (C. rufus) and closely related to the coyote (C. latrans). The eastern wolf has been proposed as a separate species, C. lycaon. The largest protected area containing this wolf is Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, which is bounded to the south by areas containing the Tweed wolf or eastern coyote, a hybrid of the western coyote and eastern wolf. We assessed the relationships of animals in the park by using DNA profiles that comprised the genotype from 17 autosomal and 4 Y-linked microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA control region. These profiles were used to establish maternity, paternity, and kin relationships for 102 wolves that were studied from 24 packs over a 12-year period. Genetic data do not support the hypothesis that a pack comprises an unrelated breeding pair and their offspring. There is evidence of frequent pack splitting, pack fusion, and adoption. Some unrelated individuals in the packs were identified as immigrants into the park. We found high levels of genetic structuring between the Tweed wolves to the southeast and the Algonquin Park wolves (RST = 0.114). Lower levels of genetic differentiation with animals to the north and west (RST = 0.057 and RST = 0.036) and high genetic diversity suggest that park animals are not an island population but the southern part of a larger metapopulation of C. lycaon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]