Seasonal Home Ranges of Raccoons, Procyon lotor, Using a Common Feeding Site in Rural Eastern Ontario: Rabies Management Implications

Thirteen adult Raccoons (Procyon lotor) (six females, seven males) that fed at a garbage dump north of Kingston, Ontario were radio-tracked from 21 June to 16 October 1995 to assess their seasonal home ranges and movements. Average Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) summer and fall home ranges for the collared Raccoons were 78.4 ha (SD=46.2 ha) and 45.6 ha (SD=29.7 ha), respectively. Average grid cell summer and fall home ranges for the collared Raccoons were 143.3 ha (SD=40.0 ha) and 116.9 ha (SD=24.9 ha), respectively. Summer ranges of the Raccoons were significantly larger than fall ranges using both the MCP method (P=0.05) and the grid cell method (P=0.073). Yearling Raccoons travelled an average summer maximum distance from the dump of 2608 m (SD=1964, n=3), more than double the distance of adults (≥2 yr) at 1239 m (SD=547, n=10). The population density for the study area in late August 1995 was estimated at 1 Raccoon/12 ha based on an effective area surrounding the dump of 234 ha. Home range and movement data may be useful to design a strategy to control Raccoon rabies in Ontario

Postexposure Treatment and Animal Rabies, Ontario, 1958-2000

This paper investigates the relationship between animal rabies and postexposure treatment (PET) in Ontario by examining the introduction of human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV) in 1980 and the initiation of an oral rabies vaccination program for wildlife in 1989. Introducing HDCV led to an immediate doubling of treatments. Both animal rabies and human treatments declined rapidly after the vaccination program was introduced, but human treatments have leveled off at approximately 1,000 per year

Assessing a landscape barrier using genetic simulation modelling: Implications for raccoon rabies management

Landscape barriers influence movement patterns of animals, which in turn, affect spatio-temporal spread of infectious wildlife disease. We compare genetic data from computer simulations to those acquired from field samples to measure the effect of a landscape barrier on raccoon (Procyon lotor) movement, enabling risk assessment of raccoon rabies disease spread across the Niagara River from New York State into Ontario, an area currently uninfected by rabies. An individual-based spatially explicit model is used to simulate the expansion of a raccoon population to cross the Niagara River, for different permeabilities of the river to raccoon crossings. Since the model records individual raccoon genetics, the genetic population structure of neutral mitochondrial DNA haplotypes are characterised in the expanding population, every 25 years, using a genetic distance measure, φ{symbol}ST, Mantel tests and a gene diversity measure. The river barrier effect is assessed by comparing genetic measures computed from model outputs to those calculated from 166 raccoons recently sampled from the same landscape. The "best fit" between modelled scenarios and field data indicate the river prevents 50% of attempts to cross the river. Founder effects dominated the colonizing genetic population structure, and, as the river barrier effect increased, its genetic diversity decreased. Using gene flow to calibrate the effect of the river as a barrier to movement provides an estimate of the effect of a river in reducing the likelihood of cross-river infection. Including individual genetic markers in simulation modelling benefits investigations of disease spread and control

Landscape modelling spatial bottlenecks: implications for raccoon rabies disease spread

A landscape genetic simulation modelling approach is used to understand factors affecting raccoon rabies disease spread in southern Ontario, Canada. Using the Ontario Rabies Model, we test the hypothesis that landscape configuration (shape of available habitat) affects dispersal, as indicated by genetic structuring. We simulated range expansions of raccoons from New York into vacant landscapes in Ontario, in two areas that differed by the presence or absence of a landscape constriction. Our results provide theoretical evidence that landscape constriction acts as a vicariant bottleneck. We discuss implications for raccoon rabies spread