On the hunt for puma poop in the SF Bay Area

I arrived at the gates of Crystal Springs Reservoir at 6 am, where I met puma biologist Karen DeMatteo and Felidae biologist Alys Granados. The plan was to walk nearly 10 miles, starting at first sunlight, on the hunt for poop. By our side was DJ, a former narco detection dog who now works for Karen as a professional wildlife poop sniffer, also known as a scat detection dog.

Collecting poop isn’t actually as disgusting as it sounds. In fact, it’s quite exhilarating–and impressive–when DJ detects a scat.

DJ can tell the difference between puma, bobcat, fox, coyote, and any other scat we come across, and he only signals when he finds what we need: puma and bobcat poop.

Poop is a treasure trove of valuable information. When the samples are really fresh and fragrant, and mucus still lines the turd (okay, that part is a little gross), it can help us identify individuals and the sex, age, and relatedness.

Poop can also tell us if the animal has a parasitic infection, called toxoplasmosis, which is pretty important information since parasites can spill over into domestic animals and threaten human health. We can also determine if the animal is suffering from chronic stress by measuring cortisol levels in the poop. Chronic cortisol weakens the animal’s immune system over time, and can even lead to organ failure. And last but not least, poop can reveal if an animal has heavy metals, like mercury and lead, in its system.

With every poop we discovered, I measured the width and diameter of the poop, marked its location and time of collection, then photographed it, before Alys slipped on a pair of rubber gloves and broke the poop into four pieces to separately measure heavy metals, cortisol, parasites, and genetics. She placed each piece into a separate plastic bag, labeled by sample number. After a day in the field, Alys dries out the poop, then sends the samples off to various labs for analysis.

Since I was the designated poop photographer, I got a good look at what was in the pumas’ poop, and it was fascinating. Twice we found whole hooves of juvenile deer! I can’t even imagine how that made it through the digestive tract of a puma. We also found plenty of hair and bones. Additionally, I learned how to easily identify fox poop; it’s much smaller and filled with berries.

By the end of the day, we had collected seven puma scats and seven bobcat scats, which we deemed a successful day in the field.

In total, Felidae volunteers and biologists completed 16 scat surveys across Marin, San Mateo, Contra Cost, and Alameda counties throughout August. It was Felidae’s most successful scat survey to date; we covered the most distance ever and collected a total of 121 puma scats and 76 bobcat scats.

I can’t wait to do it again next year.