US Geological Survey

 

Date of this Version

2008

Citation

Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 44(4), 2008, pp. 824–836.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

We followed the course of canine parvovirus (CPV) antibody prevalence in a subpopulation of wolves (Canis lupus) in northeastern Minnesota from 1973, when antibodies were first detected, through 2004. Annual early pup survival was reduced by 70%, and wolf population change was related to CPV antibody prevalence. In the greater Minnesota population of 3,000 wolves, pup survival was reduced by 40–60%. This reduction limited the Minnesota wolf population rate of increase to about 4% per year compared with increases of 16–58% in other populations. Because it is young wolves that disperse, reduced pup survival may have caused reduced dispersal and reduced recolonization of new range in Minnesota.

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