Research overview: notoedric mange epizootics in bobcat populations

Notoedric mange, caused by Notoedres cati mites, has driven severe, sometimes locally devastating outbreaks in bobcats, particularly around urbanizing areas of California. This overview synthesizes the epidemiology of these epizootics: the rapid progression to fatal generalized mange, the spatial clustering near human development, and the striking association with exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides that appears to compromise immune defenses. It examines how researchers combined disease surveillance, toxicology and radio-telemetry to reveal mange as a disease of immunosuppression rather than simple mite exposure. The synthesis connects urban toxicants to a wildlife disease outbreak in a charismatic small cat. It aims to show readers how seemingly unrelated human activities, like rodent control, can cascade into lethal parasitic disease in nearby felid populations.