With new batteries in hand, and a complete change of season or two, I set up the camera trap last night, and took the pictures below.
And then this poor fellow wandered into the frame.
This is a very advanced case of sarcoptic mange.
In the first picture he shows up in, you can see the ear of one of my healthy fox in the lower left corner. The healthy fox exited the immediate area when this fellow showed up, but they came back into the frame when he left.
Mange in fox is very common, and if the problem is not too far gone it can generally be fixed with nothing more than food.
I have successfully treated mange with nothing more than a little extra Purina kibble. But in a case like this, where it's advanced this far, I think there's no turning back.
This is the part that the people on the couch do not understand; wild animals do not die in hospital beds with morphine drips and Mozart on the stereo. Absent a hunter, they die from vehicle impact, disease, starvation, and predation. In fact, of all the ways that a wild animal can die, death by skilled hunter is the very best. A direct gun shot wound to the head? It is how we ourselves chose to exit this planet more times than we want to think about.
Of course there is more to mange in wild fox than lack of food. There is a whole story to this disease, so let me set it out.
Sarcoptic mange is caused by a parasitic mite called Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows into the skin. Infestations of several thousand mites per square inch are possible.
Scabies mites secrete a yellowish waste that hardens into a thick crust on the skin, causing hair loss and (as the infestation progresses) lacerations and cracking of the skin. Chronic itching can cause the fox to bite and gnaw itself, and the animal can become dazed from pain and lack of sleep. Weight loss from stress can be quite rapid, and organ failure is common. Death usually follows within six months of infestation.
One of the chief causes of mange in wild fox populations is too high a fox density. Mange mites can survive a long period of time in a den, which means that effective mange control requires fox dens to be unoccupied at least one year out of every two.
In areas where fox trapping and hunting is outlawed or discouraged, however, fox population densities will often rise to the point that some dens never lie fallow. In addition, in areas where fox populations are very high, food availability can be lead to chronic long-term hunger which can undermine the immunity system of a fox. In such situations mange mites colonize dens and parasitize generation after generation of fox, with a fairly large number of the animals dying horrible and grisly deaths.
Death by mange is a long and nasty torture, and far more cruel than the swift death offered by a hunter's bullet or the swift chop of a working lurcher or hound.
Anyone who truly cares about animal welfare should favor a return to managed population control of animal species that have overshot their carrying capacity. Death is not an option -- all animals die. The only real question is how an animal will die and under what circumstances. Managing wildlife through regulated hunting is a far more humane alternative that death through disease, starvation and vehicle impact.
- Related Links:
** Mange in Red Fox
** Why It's Called Fox Hunting
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6 comments:
What hacks me off is the people in favor of population control...as long as no animals die.
Hence the idea of Bambi Birth Control that was attempted a while ago in my community.
Gag.
Thankfully, the communities that do hire bowhunters for local deer control ask that the meat be donated (and don't forget the hunters that do this anyway during the regular season). It's a great time for the homeless shelters and soup kitchens!
Can you explain how extra Purina cures mange?
Sure -- it's not Purina per se -- any decent food will do it most of the time, provided the mange is not too far gone.
Scabies mites are always present on dogs and people too. Not a big deal until the immune system fails, and then things can go nuts.
Some wild animals have weak immune systems due to bad genes, but most of the time the immune system is weak due to lack of food and/or another parasite load (round worm, etc.) or sickness.
When fox population densities go up, the mange mites are always loaded up in the dens AND the fox will have trouble keeping up with food. Result: mange. Food alone will generally result in a fox that is losing its tail fur reversing itself and fighting off the mange (scabies mites) with his own immune system. Ivermectin alone will help kill off the scabies, but it will not fix the food problem, so the underlying problem remains unless a change of cirumstances offurs (the start of rut and hunting seasan may result in a lot of gut piles, lost birds and roadkill deer).
Mother Nature always bats last, and she is a cleanup batter, and it's not always nice.
P
I see folks who have never touched a living fox, never dug on a fox, and never put their dog in fox den are suddenly exerprs on fox mange, opining on whether food can cure mange in a red fox. LoL. Okaaaaaay. It's not really a question -- it can -- provided the food is consistent and long term and high in fat. There is no issue of socialization of red fox with humans; they are around us every night and and running through your yard whether you know it or not. They do not fear humans much -- they know we cannot see them as we are night blind, self-obsessed and not very woodsy for the most part. I feed fox about once every month or so to check up on them -- they are not habituated anymore than they are to a bird feeder in a back yard. And snow fall has proven they come every night whether I feed or not -- the food simply puts them square in front of a camera lens. The same could be done with castorem, but why stink myself up with that? No need to trap and no need to bait a set long term.
Here's a question: red fox go through your yard ever night and many of them have mange at some low level. Your dog has mange mites on it right now, as do you on regular occassions if you work in your garden. Why does your dog not get mange? How come you don't? How come working terriers that may go through a thousand or two thousand dens in their life do not get mange? And, of course, the answer is that they do get mites at a very low level (unseen), but a healthy well-fed animal fights them off. This happens all the time with fox too, as I have seen and shown over a couple of years of camera trapping fox and feeding the infected ones. Ivermcetin and other remedies may knock down mange in a fox, but they do not prevent it from coming back, and it WILL come back so long as food is low. If food is high and fox density is low, however, mange is unlikely to get established in most fox. Bottom line: if you want to know about fox, ask someone who digs on them, who handles them, who runs dogs through their dens. The chatterers on the Internet have not tossed much more than a computer mouse from what I
can tell.
P
PBurns- there are 2 foxes that are on my property daily. We've lived here for just over a year, and I feed them at the wooded area at the end of my property. It's less than an acre away from my house, so I do get a good look at them most days. One of them now has mange. I haven't seen The other one in a few days. This one came out yesterday around noon & came very close to my house, which is why I was able to see how much it has been affected so far. The tail isn't completely bald, but its pretty close. It was scratching, biting & sliding it's butt around on the grass. I spoke to the owner of a local wildlife santuary & rehab facility last Summer about a fox on my parents property that had it, and was told to use Ivermectin. To inject it into rolled up bread with honey, meatballs, or other small pieces of food to ensure that the fox would get the full dose. I can't remember how much to use or how often though. I found the National Fox Welfare Society online, and it recommends 0.2 ml once a week for the first 3 weeks, and then every 10 days 3-4 more times after that. I left a voicemail at the local sanctuary, but didn't hear back. I went ahead with the dosage from the website because I wanted to start treatment ASAP. Do you agree with the treatment plan that I mentioned? I also have 2 Yorkies, and of course they are always running around in the same area, nose to the ground, and sometimes trying to eat the "treats" left by deer, rabbit, and probably fox as well. Do I need to be concerned about them now getting mange as well, or myself since I go to the feeding station daily. I'm going to call my vet about the dogs tomorrow. I don't know if he'll tell me how to treat the fox, or tell me to call Animal Control, which will be a death sentence. I'm pretty sure that it's camping out on & under my porch as well trying to find warmth. I don't know if mange spreads that easily or not? Thanks in advance for any advice that you may have!
Mange will not jump to you or a cat as the mite is canid specific. It is very unlikely to jump to your dog, especially if your dog is washed with regular flea shampoo and well fed. Mange most often shows up in winter when food is in short supply. It is often self-limiting, ie the Fox may rally and fight it off. Ivermectin treatment of a wild fox is nearly impossible, S it requires dosing 2-3 times a week for a month. A better solution is to feed with kibbles dog food and hope the fox rallies with better nutrition. All in all, however, this is Nature.
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