The contribution of spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus) to the transmission of Echinococcus granulosus in the Byadbo Wilderness Area, Kosciuszko National Park, Australia

The tag-and-release study of wild dogs was undertaken as a component of the Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales Wild Dog Management Project, funded jointly by the National Feral Animal Program of the Natural Heritage Trust, NSW National Parks and Wild Life Service, NSW Agriculture, NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation, State Forests of NSW, Bombala, Braidwood, Cooma, Gundagai, Yass Rural Lands Protection Boards and ACT Parks and Conservation Service. The authors acknowledge with grateful thanks the contribution of John Coman and Bill Morris, who trapped the wild dogs and foxes and collected the wild dog and fox faeces used in this study. We thank Barry Oakman of the Australian Dingo Conservation Association Inc., Michelago, NSW, and Stephen Zabar, Vertebrate Pest CRC, Canberra, ACT, for supplying the uninfected control faeces from the dingoes and foxes, respectively, and the Directors of the Adelaide Zoo, SA, Featherdale Wildlife Park, NSW, and Trowunna Wildlife Park, Tasmania, for providing the E. granulosus–negative control quoll faeces. Also, thanks to Peter Fleming for helpful comments during preparation of the manuscript. The tag-and-release study with the wild dogs was undertaken under the auspices of a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Section 120 Scientific Investigation Licence (A2458) and Agriculture New South Wales Animal Ethics Committee Approval No. 98/007. Spotted-tailed quolls were live-captured and marked under the auspices of a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Section 120 Scientific Investigation Licence (A3162) and NPWS Animal Ethics Committee Approval No. 020214/05.