We are near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yesterday, my husband yelled for me to rush outside, there was "a critter". It had come off the road and was hiding behind an old chicken coop. We cornered it, and discovered a truly pathetic little fox...emaciated and mangy, with half it's tail bare & black. Of course, it scooted away from us, and staggered off into the woods. It was soooo sick and thin. Very sad! I bet it doesn't live another couple of days. This is actually the third mangy fox I've seen in the past couple years around here. Anybody know what's troubling them?

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), February 04, 2002

Answers

Actually mange? I wasn't here in North Dakota when it came through about 6??? years ago but that sounds like what was described to me....

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), February 04, 2002.

Sounds like it could be rabies or distemper.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), February 04, 2002.

Mange. It really gets foxes bad here. If you see one you should so them a kindness and shoot them because they quite often go blind and starve to death.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), February 04, 2002.

I agree , I have seen Mange here in PA with the fox, and it is sad. If you have the means too, I would have it put down.

-- sue (suelpn30@hotmail.com), February 04, 2002.

Id bet it just woke up from a little "hibernation" sleep,, and its fur it ratty,, happens alot with furbearers, They will loose some fur, cause they are strting to get a new coat,, and because they dont clean their den very well, then get their feces matted in also

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 04, 2002.

I don't usually advocate killing a critter, but in this case, a quick, sure shot would be a kindness to the pitiful creature, starving to death is a painful, awful way to die! The mange is a horrible thing in some wild creatures, I have seen it affect squirrles badly as well as foxes.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), February 04, 2002.

Unfortunately, by the time we got the gun ready, fox would have been long gone. It was (is) bitter cold here last night, and maybe his suffering is over now. Nature sure ain't pretty sometimes.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), February 04, 2002.

Foxes don't hibernate. I think you may, as mentioned above, have an outbreak of sarcoptic mange and it is lethal in wild canines. It is sad to see. A healthy fox is so beautiful and fun to observe too. We have a good population here and in the spring there is always a dog fox that will sit up by our gates and "bark", twitterpated no doubt! LOL LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 04, 2002.

correct Shannon,, they dont "hibernate",, neither do squireels,, coons, ect. They do sleep for weeks at a time though in the winter, and will get up to feed, then go back to sleep

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 04, 2002.

A lot of people around here tell me that there were lots of mangy fox around, but I never saw one that didn't look in the peak of health with full coats (and there were a lot of them). Mange is most likely.

You could try calling up any local wildlife rescue and see what they recommend or if they will help. I'm wondering if it would be possible to put out some cat food for it with a dose of dog ivermectin in it. You could ask the wildlife people about that. It would be systemic and kill off the mange. If it is truly that debilitated tho, it might be kill or cure.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), February 04, 2002.

Distember too. Be careful. Foxes are dogs.

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), February 05, 2002.

By the way, if it is mange is very contagiuos! That was in the litterature I read about our old outbreak. If you do shoot one DO NOT TOUCH it! And don't let any pets around it. Check to see if you are supposed to burn or bury it (picking it up with a shovel). If you don't it can spread to whatever mammal comes to clean it up.

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), February 08, 2002.