The golden jackal (Canis aureus) and the African swine fever pandemic: Its role is controversial but not negligible (a diet analysis study)

Abstract Background In Europe, the African swine fever (ASF) pandemic mostly affects the environmental domain of health, which is a strongly human‐impacted ecosystem. However, the current control strategies focus solely on the wild boar and tend to disregard other epidemiologically relevant elements of the ecosystem. Objectives This study investigated the potential impact of the golden jackal on the surveillance effort and disease transmission. Methods For this reason, the authors analysed the content of 277 stomachs of this canid species within its westernmost inhabitant population, in order to determine the amount of suid remains, disposed. Results The findings confirmed that in a densely populated wild boar habitat, the main diet component of jackals was wild boar all the year round. The jackals disposed of 0.3–0.6 kg/km2/day offals that potentially contained suid remains. On the other hand, the scavenging activity removed the most important target objects on which the passive surveillance of ASF should be based. Conclusions This study cannot determine whether canid scavengers positively or negatively influence the control efforts; however, the impact of the jackal should not be disregarded. The results warn the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to complex epidemiological situations within different ecosystems.