Spatial relationships between mesocarnivores and domestic species in an urban environment and implications for endangered San Joaquin kit foxes

In the city of Bakersfield, CA, endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica) occur with raccoons (Procyon lotor), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), and Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), all of which share the urban landscape with an abundance of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and cats (Felis catus). Interactions between domestic and wild carnivores range from ambivalent to competitive and coexistence may be facilitated by partitioning space, time, and resources. An understanding of these mechanisms among increasing urbanization is of particular importance for the conservation of San Joaquin kit foxes. We used annual survey data and quantified urban land uses in multi-scaled χ2 spatial analyses and occupancy modeling to explore how kit foxes and three other mesocarnivores manage cohabitation with dogs and cats. Cat occupancy was driven by a negative association with open spaces, skunk occupancy was driven by a negative association with commercial land uses and a positive association with industrial land uses, and opossum occupancy was driven by a negative association with open spaces as well as a positive association with parks. Kit foxes occurred mostly independently of dogs and cats, though showed some fine-scale spatial avoidance of cats. Opossums exhibited fine-scale spatial avoidance of dogs while raccoons and skunks exhibited fine-scale spatial coexistence with cats. Ultimately, these species select for different urban landscapes and mesocarnivores show varying changes in space use when sharing a landscape immediately with domestic species which may help facilitate coexistence between wild mesocarnivores and domestic species in Bakersfield.