Isabella Sciarrino, Virginia Tech

Sarcoptic mange is a poorly understood invasive disease that is increasingly threatening various mammal populations globally. The disease is caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, which creates tunnel networks within the skin of the host, resulting in a cascade of effects. Symptoms of mange include hair loss, skin thickening, skin lesions, emaciation, altered behavior, extreme itching, and can even lead to death. Canid species are typical hosts of mange in the US, but in the last decade bear populations have been experiencing mange outbreaks across the mid-Atlantic. Virginia has documented increasing infections and bear deaths, particularly in the last few years. Virginia Tech and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) partnered to address the ongoing spread of mange in black bears across Virginia and surrounding states. We deployed 73 hair snares in a mange-endemic area in Virginia for 8 weeks from June-August 2024 and 2025. Hair snares were paired with a motion triggered trail camera that recorded 30-second videos each time a bear was detected. We defined a bear event from the time a distinctly different bear was video-captured until 30 minutes after initial capture, regardless of number of videos obtained. Bears were visually scored for mange severity using a Mange Matrix provided by DWR, evaluating bears on a 0-9 scale based on hair loss, skin condition, and body condition. In 2024, we obtained 598 unique bear events at 69/73 stations, 99 of these events were of bears with symptomatic mange at 30/73 stations. Bear events from the 2025 season are currently being processed. We utilized an occupancy framework to examine spatial relationships between mange occurrence from bear events and landscape variables. We will also compare landscape variables’ influence on occupancy for non-symptomatic bears. This research will improve understanding of landscape factors associated with habitat use for mange-afflicted bears in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.