Search

Large carnivores often exhibit high survival rates in protected areas, whereas intentional and unintentional human‐caused mortality may be greater in adjacent areas. These patterns can result in source‐sink dynamics and limit population expansion beyond protected areas.We used telemetry data from 438 canids in 141 packs collected from 2002 to 2020 to evaluate mortality risk for wolves, coyotes, and admixed canids in a 3‐species hybrid zone in and adjacent to a large protected area in Ontario, Canada. The hybrid zone is occupied by most of the remaining eastern wolves (Canis lycaon), a rare, threatened species that hybridizes with sympatric eastern coyotes (C. latrans) and Great Lakes grey wolves (C. lupus).Within Algonquin Provincial Park (APP), annual human‐caused mortality from harvest and vehicles was low (0.06, 95% CI [0.03, 0.08]), whereas annual human‐caused mortality was higher in adjacent areas (0.31, 95% CI [0.25, 0.37]). Smaller protected areas implemented to help protect eastern wolves did not significantly reduce mortality. Eastern wolves survived poorly relative to other canids and dispersing canids survived poorly relative to residents. Mortality risk was greater when canids were closer to roads. Mortality risk was also increased or reduced by the strength of individual‐level selection or avoidance of roads relative to their availability, respectively.Our results provide a comprehensive evaluation of factors influencing spatial variation in mortality risk for canids to inform eastern wolf recovery efforts. Additionally, we developed a novel modelling approach for investigating the influence of resource selection on mortality risk, which highlighted that individual‐level responses to risk can strongly influence population‐level mortality patterns.Synthesis and applications. Despite being listed as 'threatened' under the Ontario Endangered Species Act, eastern wolves are still legally trapped and shot outside protected areas in central Ontario. Eastern wolves and dispersing canids survive poorly outside of APP, primarily from human‐caused mortality. These results, along with the apparent inadequacy of the smaller protected areas, suggest that expanding the threatened eastern wolf population outside APP is unlikely under current management conditions. Protecting eastern wolves from human‐caused mortality is complicated as it would require a harvest ban for all canids, including coyotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances a more-than-human everyday urbanism as a useful analytic for articulating a less anthropocentric reading of the city. Using a case study of eastern coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, it draws on empirical data and ethological literatures to consider everyday life in multispecies cities through two registers: rhythms and sensoria. It first performs an experimental rhythmanalysis, demonstrating the import of linear and cyclical rhythms in the space-times of human–coyote encounters. It then delves into coyote sensory worlds, illustrating the acoustic and olfactory ecologies that shape urban atmospheres and place-making. The article argues that a more-than-human everyday urbanism holds value for practice and politics, shifting the focus from spectacular moments of conflict with wildlife to a consideration of more-than-human place making, resituating urban animals as neighbors rather than invaders. This analysis contributes to emergent conversations in more-than-human and urban geographies aimed at making visible other-than-human spaces, practices, and experiences, a project central to recuperating the urban as an existing and potential site of multispecies flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-standing myths exist about the origins of wolf--coyote hybrids and related Canis species in Ontario. Specifically, there is a perceived controversy whether they are the product of natural hybridization that occurred between wolves and coyotes in the wild during the last century or the descendants of animals that escaped or were released from captive colonies or controlled breeding experiments. We review the relevant evidence and conclude that captive colonies and controlled breeding experiments were unlikely to have played any role in the origins of wolf--coyote hybrids and related Canis species in Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In North America, the only endemic focus for Angiostrongylus vasorum (French heartworm) was historically thought to occur in the southeastern part of the island of Newfoundland. However, reports of A. vasorum infection in wild canids in West Virginia, USA, and Nova Scotia, Canada, suggest the introduction of the parasite to mainland North America. We screened for A. vasorum in coyotes from across southern Ontario. Additionally, we evaluated the performance of ELISAs for detection of circulating A. vasorum antigen (Ag-ELISA) and antibodies against A. vasorum (Ab-ELISA) designed for use in sera or blood of foxes for use with coyotes in this region. Autopsies were performed on 397 coyotes, and lung tissue extract prepared from each carcass was tested via both ELISAs. The sensitivity and specificity for both tests were estimated in the absence of a gold standard using a 2-test single population Bayesian model; sensitivity and specificity priors were based on the performance of the assays in foxes in Switzerland. Eight coyotes tested positive for A. vasorum antigen; no animal was antibody positive. The estimated sensitivity and specificity of the Ag-ELISA were 90.8% (95% credible interval [CrI]: 83.8–95.6%) and 95.5% (95% CrI: 93.4–97.2%), respectively. For the Ab-ELISA, the estimated sensitivity and specificity were 41.9% (95% CrI: 32.1–51.9%) and 98.0% (95% CrI: 96.3–99.0%), respectively. Based on these findings and negative postmortem data for the same animals, there is insufficient evidence to suggest the presence of A. vasorum in southern Ontario coyotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We modeled resource selection by wolves (Canis spp.), eastern coyotes (C. latrans), and admixed canids during the pup‐rearing season at den and rendezvous sites (collectively, homesites) within a largely unprotected landscape proposed as the recovery zone for federally and provincially threatened eastern wolves (C. lycaon) in Ontario, Canada. Overall, canids selected wetlands, while avoiding secondary roads and open‐structure rock‐grass habitat patches. Packs with greater wolf ancestry selected wetlands and tertiary roads more strongly, while avoiding mixed conifer‐hardwood forests. Contrary to our prediction, canids with greater coyote ancestry did not establish homesites closer to roads, which likely mitigated their risk of human‐caused mortality during pup‐rearing. Packs exhibited increased selection of wetlands within territories as a function of increasing availability of wetlands. Packs with abundant access to wetlands may prioritize this habitat type to exploit beavers, a valuable prey species during pup‐rearing. Packs with higher pup survival selected hardwood forests and avoided conifer forests more than packs with lower pup survival. This is consistent with our understanding of habitat relations of the main prey species for canids in central Ontario and suggests that selecting prey‐rich habitat types at homesites increases fitness. A proposed goal of eastern wolf recovery is numerical and geographical expansion outside of the population core in Algonquin Provincial Park. Thus, our results provide valuable information for conservation by quantifying resource selection of wolves, coyotes, and hybrids during pup‐rearing and identifying links between fitness and homesite selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Echinococcus multilocularis was recently reported in wild canids across southern Ontario, a newly recognized endemic area in Canada. In such areas, a comprehensive understanding of factors associated with infection in definitive hosts (wild canids) is critical for mitigating risk of transmission to humans. However, little is known about the transmission dynamics of the parasite in definitive hosts for this region. A study was therefore carried out to investigate the association of host‐level (sex, body condition), environmental (southern Ontario region, land cover), temporal (season, hunting season, calendar year) and extraneous factors (submitter type) with E. multilocularis infection in coyotes in southern Ontario. Between November 2015 and March 2017, 416 coyotes were collected from across the region as part of a study that investigated the prevalence and distribution of the parasite in wild canids; approximately 24% of coyotes were positive for E. multilocularis. Associations between infection and factors of interest were assessed via a mixed‐effects logistic regression model with a random intercept for submitter to account for clustering. Coyotes with poor body condition were at greater odds of E. multilocularis infection than those in good condition (odds ratio [OR] 2.14; 95% CI: 1.08–4.26; p =.030). A negative association was observed between infection in coyotes and the proportion of natural land in a coyote's estimated home range (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.52–0.85; p =.001). Coyotes from the western region of southern Ontario had lower odds of infection compared to coyotes from the central region (OR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.12–0.55; p <.001). These results can be used to help guide future public health prevention strategies for human alveolar echinococcosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trail cameras were used to deremiine the presence of medium to large-sized wild mammals in Ontario between 2008 and 2010. A total of 27 different species of mammals across the province were photographed during 17308 trail-camera-nights. Presence indices (photographs per trail-camera-night) for the areas sampled in southem Ontario were highest for the following species: White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Raccoon (Procyon lotor), Coyote (Canis latrans), Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), and Red Squirrel (Tainiasciurus hudsonicus). Presence indices for the areas sampled in north- ern Ontario were highest for White-tailed Deer, American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), Moose (Alces alces), Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus), and Red Squirrel. Trail camera photographs depicted extensive use of snowmobile trails by wildlife in southern Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eastern wolf (Canis lycaon), a species of conservation concern in Canada, is currently restricted to small fragmented populations in south-central Ontario and hybridizes with both encroaching gray wolves and coyote-like canids. We examined niche dynamics in canids undergoing hybridization to determine whether competition among individuals with coyote (Canis latrans) or gray wolf (Canis lupus) ancestry, or their related hybrids, could threaten persistence of the eastern wolf in south-central Canada. Our integrative approach combined extensive genotyping and comparative niche analyses across the hybrid zone to assess available and utilized niche space across all three parental species and their hybrids within the zone of admixture. We focused on detecting niche imbalances within the canid clade that indicate competitive threats, and used these data to identify specific geographic regions that disproportionately favor eastern wolves and might confer natural exclusion of competing canids. We detected low genetic and ecological differentiation among groups across the region. Niche dynamics in the admixture zone were dominated by gray wolf and coyote-like canids, with coyote-like canids in particular exhibiting niche space that overlapped entirely with eastern wolves. Conservation action for eastern wolves must either exploit the narrow niche space that differentiates them from other canids, representing ~5% of their currently occupied space, or accept whichever group dominates the landscapes regardless of genetic makeup. This study suggests that competitive disadvantage can limit species' recovery efforts, and thereby potentially warrant management that targets factors promoting ecological differentiation between groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commentary on the report by R. Kays and colleagues on a hybrid origin for northeastern coyotes by using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data and skull measurements. The study suggested that western coyotes colonized Ontario from Minnesota and hybridized with the wolves. According to the authors, they support the conclusion of the study that northeastern coyotes are derived from wolf-coyote hybridization.