TY - JOUR AU - Kretser, Heidi AU - Glennon, Michale AU - Whitelaw, Alice AU - Hurt, Aimee AU - Pilgrim, Kristine AU - Schwartz, Michael PY - 2016/08/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - SCAT-DETECTION DOGS SURVEY LOW DENSITY MOOSE IN NEW YORK JF - Alces: A Journal Devoted to the Biology and Management of Moose JA - Alces VL - 52 IS - 0 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://alcesjournal.org/index.php/alces/article/view/151 SP - 55-66 AB - The difficulty of collecting occurrence and population dynamics data in mammalian populations of low density poses challenges for making informed management decisions. We assessed the use of scat-detection dogs to search for fecal pellets in a low density moose (<em>Alces alces</em>) population in the Adirondack Park in New York State, and the success rate of DNA extraction from moose fecal pellets collected during the surveys. In May 2008, two scat-detection dog teams surveyed 20, 4-km transects and located 138 moose scats. In 2011 we successfully amplified DNA from 39 scats (28%) and were able to uniquely identify 25 individuals. Improved storage protocols and earlier lab analysis would increase the amplification success rate. Scat-detection dogs proved to be a reasonable, non-invasive method to collect useful data from the low density moose population in the Adirondack Park. ER -