Urocyon cinereoargenteus predating to Canis lupus familiaris in an anthropized tropical environment

Abstract

Although the gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus (Carnivora: Canidae), is an omnivorous, opportunistic, and generalist carnivore, its predating or scavenging on domestic canids has not been reported.  This report documents a predation event a domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) for gray fox in an anthropized tropical environment.  During a project to evaluate the impact on habitat and wildlife populations in forested areas where dynamite is used to fragment stone and limestone rock in Cuauhtémoc, Córdoba, Veracruz, 2 camera traps were installed from August 2021 to May 2022 in areas with coffee cultivations, sugarcane, citrus, banana, palm, secondary vegetation, and tropical forest.  The videos reviewed showed an adult female gray fox carrying a domestic dog puppy in her snout.  Considering this report, the second on this topic for México, there are 14 species of wild carnivores that prey on domestic dogs.  This unusual event could have resulted from several factors, including intraspecific competition with domestic canids or other mesopredators, food scarcity, and habitat anthropization.