Was it a paid for study in disease spread in foxes?

I have waited since the 16th March, 2026 for a response from Bristol University regarding the very prevalent rumour that its old Mammal Group deliberately spread mange in the fox population. See https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2026/03/was-mange-deliberately-spread-in.html    

I have never known any organisation so unwilling to just scrap rumours like this. I have tried to get a response from Bristol University since 2020. Nothing.

Is it possible that they were responsible for the decimation of all but 6% of Bristol foxes? I have no idea but it has often been mooted that foxes in the UK being spread out in towns, cities and countryside (despite falling population numbers) are the ideal animal to monitor to see how  disease might spread. 

Although we have not had rabies (apart from travellers returning infected from outside the UK) since the 1920s in the UK there has always been rabies scares -as in the 1970s. "How fast could rabies spread in the UK from an infected fox?" Well, hopefully no one is insane enough to test that!  

In the paper The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) as a source of zoonoses Valeria Letkova et al note:

  

"The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most widespread and abundant predator on earth, living in almost all habitats of the Northern Hemisphere, such as woodlands, mountains, deserts or even suburban and urban environments. Moreover, the red fox is the main carrier and vector species of the most important endemic zoonoses, as fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, Toxocara canis and nematode Trichinella spp. This makes the fox a highly controversial and emotional species with great potential public involvement and of fundamental importance as far as management issues are concerned."

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most widespread and abundant predator on earth, living in almost from VETERINARSKI ARHIV 76 (Suppl.), S73-S81, 2006 

all habitats of the Northern Hemisphere, such as woodlands, mountains, deserts or even suburban and urban Although most studies in the 2000s are looking at parasite spread for various reasons in the pre 2000 era virulent disease was a concern. Was mange used as a substitute for rabies to see how fast it could spread? 

The big problem I have is how the mange in 1994/1995 spread throughout the Bristol fox population as quickly as it did. Foxes are territorial and so do not travel all over a city and one the size of Bristol would need an infected at the centre of population in North, South, East and West Bristol for it to spread so fast and quickly.

Was it a paid for study in disease spread in foxes?