Sick or Dead Fox Advisory Notice

 Currently we have the 4th and 5th foxes ready for post mortem examination. These are healthy looking young foxes that suddenly died. Other foxes were a little too far gone to find anything in. However,  two out of three foxes exhibited jaundice and the odds there are pretty high against 2 out of 3 having this.

Today a third fox was found dead -death being sudden- despite initially looking healthy. It isexhabiting a jaundiced (yellow) tongue but until a post mortem we cannot say this positively as we need the evidence. 

This brings the total number of foxes that died suddenly or "suspiciously" in Bristol since June 2021 to over thirty (30). A number of settled fox groups have also vanished but without carcasses we cannot include those. As no one has bothered keeping records of fox deaths or causes before the Fox Study is pioneering this investigation albeit fighting to get each fox examined.

The initial fear was poisoning, however, as none of those foxes was examined it is possible that they may -in some cases not all- have have been victims of disease. Excluded are cases where 2-4 foxes all die at the same time as that indicates non-disease (poisoning).  The other concern was, obviously, disease and canine adenovirus in particular.

Adenovirus 1 in dogs is a virus that causes respiratory infections, targets multiple organs in the body, and causes infectious canine hepatitis (ICH) — a disease that severely affects the liver and can be fatal in as many as 30 percent of the dogs who suffer from it.

Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) is related to the hepatitis virus, canine adenovirus type 1 (CAV-1). CAV-2 is used in vaccines to provide protection against canine infectious hepatitis. CAV-2 is also one of the causes of infectious tracheobronchitis, also known as canine cough.

Adenovirus has been found in British mustelids and has turned up a lot in UK foxes as a couple of fox rescues have now advised that they have had cases. The concern is that this may be a virulent form but there is absolutely no evidence of this so far and an advisory message was sent of to rescues and charities as a "heads up" and a suggestion that iff any sick foxes are taken in and examined by a vet they should check for jaundice.

Again, this is precautionary and once other foxes have been examined we may find another cause.