Risk of disease spillover from dogs to wild carnivores in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India

V. Chaudhary; N. Rajput; A. B. Shrivastav; D. W. Tonkyn

Carnivores in KTR frequent the villages to prey on dogs (Karanth et al., 2013) and 34 livestock (Miller et al., 2015) , while dogs enter the core with or without their owners. As a 35 result, these animals can interact directly through scavenging on carcasses or predation or, 36 indirectly through scats or spray marks; in ways that can transmit pathogens. We predict that 37 these interactions will be more frequent in villages that are closer to the core (as in Chile) (Torres 38 & Prado, 2010) or that are larger since they may support more dogs. Finally, as some pathogens 39 have common routes of transmission or suppress the immune response, we predict that there will 40 be elevated rates of co-exposure, amplifying the threat (Griffiths et al., 2011) . We conducted 41 6 contact rate with wild carnivores. We randomly selected five villages with centers < 2 km from 70 the core boundary (henceforth 'near') and four villages (summer), and then five (winter) with 71 centers > 6 km from the core boundary ('far') ( Fig. 1) . All villages were sampled in both 72 seasons except one near village that was replaced in winter and one far village that was added in 73 winter (Table 2) . After establishing the active periods for dogs (6:00-9:00 AM & 5:00-6:30 PM 74 in summer; 7:00-9:00 AM & 4:00-5:30 PM in winter), we conducted non-invasive photographic 75 surveys of dogs using a Nikon D3000 digital camera and 80-200 mm lens, on a motorcycle at < 76 20 km/h on roads and on foot in alleys. We noted individual dog's sex (males by descended 77 testicles), age category (juveniles < 1 year or adults by asking the owners and/or estimation), and 78 coat patterns. Each survey was conducted over two consecutive days (a "mark" and "recapture" 79 in each village) in summer and three consecutive days (a "mark" and two morning and two 80 afternoon "recaptures") in winter. We measured the area of each village by tracking its villages that were sampled in summer and winter; the inset shows the location of KTR in India. 88 We collected blood samples from dogs in all surveyed villages to estimate the 89 seroprevalence of rabies, CPV, CDV, and CAV. In summer, we collected blood 90 opportunistically from 67 dogs (42 males and 25 females). In winter, we collected blood from 91 five male and five female adults and four male and four female juveniles from each village, 92 except for three near and two far villages where we could only capture three males and three 93 female juveniles. 35 dogs were sampled in both seasons. Dogs less than four months of age 94