Sarcoptic mange: An emerging threat to Chilean wild mammals?

Abstract

Sarcoptic mange has been anecdotally reported in Chilean wildlife during the last decade. Although thisdisease can have devastating outcomes for biodiversity, there is no comprehensive assessment of thispotential threat in Chile. Because the current capacity to monitor sarcoptic mange and other wildlifediseases is limited in this country, we used abnormal alopecia to search for suspect cases across severalsources of information to identify, to the extent available data allow, the location and temporal trends ofwild mammals with this characteristic across Chile. We surveyed park rangers, examined rehabilitationcenter databases, and collated citizen and media reports. The information gathered suggests that obser-vations of alopecic wild mammals, mainly foxes (Lycalopex sp.), their presence in the country, and thenumber of species fulfilling our case definition have increased over the last 15 years. Moreover, abnor-mally alopecic mammals are currently located broadly in Chile. We also confirmed the utility of abnormalalopecia to define a suspect sarcoptic mange case in the most commonly affected group, Lycalopex foxes.Our findings are highly concerning from a conservation perspective. We thus emphasize the need for anurgent surveillance and management plan for sarcoptic mange and other diseases that may be threateningChilean biodiversity.