Maned wolves are the largest canid of South America, living in the Cerrado savanna. They face welfare threats from sarcoptic mange transmitted from domestic dogs, road mortality, and habitat loss from agricultural expansion.
Maned wolves with sarcoptic mange experience progressive skin and fur loss, intense itching, secondary infection, and emaciation as the condition advances untreated. Transmission from domestic dog populations adjacent to natural habitat creates ongoing disease pressure that wild wolves cannot escape. Treatment of captured individuals is possible but reaching affected wild animals is challenging in large territories across extensive savanna.