title: Sarcoptic-mange detector dogs used to identify infected animals during outbreaks in wildlife.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One of the main aims of forensic investigation is the detection and location of people and substances of interest, such as missing people and illegal drugs. Dogs (Canis lupus var. familiaris) have had an important role in legal and forensic investigations for decades; nonetheless canines' keen sense of smell has never been utilized in either the surveillance or control of wildlife diseases. The rapid removal and treatment of infected carcasses and/or sick animals is a key task in the management of infectious diseases, but it is usually difficult or impractical to carry out in the wild.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this paper we report on a study running over a period of 15 years, in which - for the first time to our knowledge - two disease-detector dogs were trained to follow the scent of Sarcoptes-infected animals and to find carcasses, even under the snow, and apparently no false positives were detected in fieldwork. Sarcoptic mange-detector dogs were used to collect the carcasses of 292 mangy wild animals and to identify, separate from their herd, and capture 63 mange-infected wild animals in the Italian Alps.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Properly trained disease-detector dogs are an efficient and straightforward tool for surveillance and control of sarcoptic mange in affected wild animal populations.
authors: Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies (IEU), University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland. samer@ebd.csic.es
authors: Samer
authors: S
authors: Alasaad
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Permunian
authors: Francis
authors: F
authors: Gakuya
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Mutinda
authors: Ramón C
authors: RC
authors: Soriguer
authors: Luca
authors: L
authors: Rossi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000662:veterinary; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D048608:Rupicapra; D012532:Scabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013997:Time Factors