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Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 45(2), 2009, pp. 333-343
© Wildlife Disease Association  2009
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A SUSPECTED CANINE DISTEMPER EPIDEMIC AS THE CAUSE OF A CATASTROPHIC DECLINE IN SANTA CATALINA ISLAND FOXES (UROCYON LITTORALIS CATALINAE)

 Steven F. Timm1,9,8, Linda Munson2, Brian A. Summers3, Karen A. Terio4, Edward J. Dubovi5, Charles E. Rupprecht6, Sanjay Kapil7 and David K. Garcelon1

1 Institute for Wildlife Studies, P.O. Box 1104, Arcata, California 95518, USA
2 Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, 1 Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
3 Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Herts AL97TA, UK
4 University of Illinois Zoological Pathology Program, LUMC Building 101, 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood, Illinois 60153, USA
5 Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, P.O. Box 786, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
6 Rabies Laboratory, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA
7 Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab, Oklahoma State University, P.O. Box 7001, Stillwater, Oklahoma 740078, USA
9 Corresponding author (email: stimm{at}mwt.net)

ABSTRACT:   The island fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) population on Santa Catalina Island, California, USA declined precipitously in 1999 with an approximate 95% reduction on their eastern range, an area representing 87% of the island. During this investigation, between October 1999 and April 2000, evidence of live foxes dramatically decreased. The only carcass recovered during the decline succumbed to a co-infection of canine distemper virus (CDV) and toxoplasmosis. Sequence analysis of the viral P gene, derived by polymerase chain reaction, indicated that the virus was closely related to CDV from a mainland USA raccoon (Procyon lotor). Nine of 10 foxes trapped in 1999–2000, on the eastern portion of the island after the decline, had serologic evidence of exposure to CDV, whereas only four of 19 foxes trapped in this region in 1998 had antibodies reactive against CDV. The confirmation of CDV in one deceased fox, evidence of exposure to CDV in east-end foxes in 1999–2000 compared to 1998, and documentation of raccoon introductions to the island, implicates canine distemper as the cause of the population decline.
  Key words:  Canine distemper virus, demography, feral cats, island fox, raccoon, serology, toxoplasmosis, Urocyon littoralis.

8 Current address: E9731 Co. Hwy. P, Westby, Wisconsin 54667, USA






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