Foxes Have Better Chances To Survive Now -Are People Learning?

 Recently Sarah Mills, the Bristol Fox Lady, celebrated over 500 foxes treated and recovered as well as having to rescue a sparrowhawk and later release it.  It is an unpaid job that she takes seriously and never gives up on.   

Under the previous regime covering Bristol all of the 500+ foxes would have been put down based on very ill thought out criteria not taking the animal into real consideration. The work is, as noted, unpaid, but has all of the work paid off?   

At a recent conference senior vets had noted that the number of reported fox mange cases in Bristol had dramatically decreased and they were stumped. Most did not know of Sarah's work which includes treating foxes in situ with great success.  

Each year I would get report after report of foxes with mange -sometimes daily.  Now I get "I have a fox with some mange" and I pass those along to Sarah knowing that will give them a better chance to survive. A totally hairless fox was treated in situ and has recovered and has a new coat. One that had crusting skin has recovered and has new fur.  From a Day Book full of reported and put to sleep foxes "because" they had "30%" mange I now only deal with reported dead foxes -sadly we cannot stop cars although after much pestering local authorities have helped reduce wildlife road deaths on one stretch of a busy road.

It is an ongoing fight with no funding but with Sarah treating the sick and injured foxes and our study finding out more about fox health it seems things are changing and, I hope, foxes are being taken more seriously and their care and treatment improved.