Thursday, April 4, 2013

Mangy red foxes

I have not one but two sad looking red foxes on the camera traps lately. I am certain they are different foxes as one has retained a poodle-like puff at the end of its tail. I do not know much about mange other than it is caused by mites. The firs photo is from a Cuddeback Capture and the second a Reconyx...

Red fox with mange
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/13)

Red fox with mange
(Seneca Falls, NY 3/13)

One more photo. Last summer, a Cornell University graduate student placed a hair snare on my Father's property with the intention of collecting black bear hairs for genetic analysis. This is one of several photos fromt hat set. It was suggested to me that this bear had mange or some other parasite issue. It certainly looks like a thin coat on the back- compared to the front-half of this bruin. And I can say no other bear showed this pattern, so perhaps this does indicate a problem of some degree.
Black bear with thin coat
(Fremont, NY 8/12)

2 comments:

  1. Did you see the Cuddeback pictures posted on their facebook page? A coyote with mange. Not attractive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi John! Nice blog, very much enjoying it! Cases of mange in black bears are slowly increasing, so the bear on your parents' property might have had an early case of it.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment! It will appear shortly...