Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Award Date
2025
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department / School
Natural Resource Management
First Advisor
William Severud
Abstract
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is a bacterium that can spill over from domestic sheep (Ovis aries) to bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), with effects in bighorn sheep ranging from low to no lamb recruitment to whole-herd all-age die-offs from resulting pneumonia. Fast and reliable pathogen or disease detection is essential for managing outbreaks in bighorn sheep and emergences in affected populations. Detection dogs are increasingly being enlisted to close gaps and further complement various disease, pathogen and virus research and response efforts. This thesis explores the use of conservation detection dogs as a potential tool for M. ovipneumoniae surveillance in bighorn sheep through two complementary studies. The first chapter focuses on assessing whether detection dogs can differentiate between M. ovipneumoniae-infected and non-infected bighorn sheep fecal matter, henceforth referred to as scat. Dogs from a professional detection entity (Working Dogs for Conservation in Montana) for which the author is also employe, participated in this study. Dogs were initially trained on infected and non-infected domestic sheep scat, achieving an average accuracy of 67.5%. However, they were unable to generalize this training to bighorn sheep samples without additional training to bighorn samples. Further training using PCR-confirmed positive bighorn sheep samples improved detection accuracy, with dogs achieving 80% accuracy when competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) test results were considered and 49.6% accuracy when choosing between a PCR positive and PCR negative sample with positive cELISA results. These findings suggest that, with proper training, detection dogs may be able to distinguish M. ovipneumoniae-positive scats, offering a non-invasive screening tool for free-ranging bighorn sheep populations. The second chapter expands on this work by refining detection dog training methods through controlled exposure to M. ovipneumoniae in different sample types. Dogs were trained using laboratory-grown bacterial cultures, nasal swabs collected from bighorn sheep at capture, and mixtures of these sample types to simulate real-world conditions. Across ~2,400 trials, five dogs achieved an accuracy rate of 75.04% across bacterial cultures at various dilution levels (1:10, 1:100, 1:1,000). Performance did not significantly decline with increasing dilution, and detection accuracy plateaued after approximately 200 trials. These results suggest that dogs can detect M. ovipneumoniae at concentrations similar to those found in nasal swabs, further supporting their potential as an in-field detection tool. Together, these studies provide a foundation for using detection dogs as a rapid and non-invasive method for M. ovipneumoniae surveillance in bighorn sheep populations. If detection dogs can be reliably trained on M. ovipneumoniae-positive scats and nasal swabs, dogs could be integrated into capture events and disease management strategies, offering wildlife managers a practical tool for mitigating pathogen transmission. Furthermore, recording and publishing detailed training and testing methodology, including lessons learned, will allow other conservation detection dog groups to further build upon this framework and streamline or refine training methods for similar studies.
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Lovara, Michele C., "Prospective Use of Detection Dogs as a Screening Tool for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis)" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1501.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/1501
Included in
Animal Sciences Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons
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