Sample collection
A total of 352 faecal samples
from 12 free-living carnivore species belonging to the Canidae (n= 193), Felidae (n = 15), Herpestidae (n = 1), Mustelidae
(n = 131), Procyonidae (n = 1), and Viverridae (n =
11) families were collected in seven Spanish regions between December
2013 to October 2017 (Table 2, Figure 1). The sampling was mainly
focused on areas with higher densities of extensively reared cattle and
where positive cases of bovine besnoitiosis had been previously reported
(Nieto-RodrÃguez et al., 2016), as is the case of Central and Western
Spain (Figure 1). Samples were obtained from road- and hunter-killed
animals, from accidentally found carcasses, camera-trap surveys, or
animals entering rescue shelters (see Calero-Bernal et al., 2020).
Faeces were collected directly from the rectum of each animal and placed
in individual plastic cups with records of the date, location and
species, and frozen within 12 h after collection.