A couple days ago, Christy and Brian Nann sent me these photos of an animal they had seen at Greenway Meadows. In the first photo, it almost looks like a young deer, but the second photo suggested to us a strange version of a coyote.I sent the photos to the Mercer County Wildlife Center for identification. Diane Nickerson emailed back that "it appears to be a red fox with a severe case of sarcoptic mange", and that the Center could treat it if it were trapped. Unfortunately, if the photos were taken back in August, there's little chance the fox has survived this long.
I've seen many foxes in the same state of heath in Solebury Twp. (PA). Lately, it seems rare to see a heathy fox in that area.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Edelmann of D&R Greenway wrote to me the following:
ReplyDeleteI remember when mange killed all the foxes of Island Beach.
I was told the mange arrived if we did not have cold enough winters to freeze burrows for a number of days on end
all the foxes of IB died ghastly deaths -- they are not allowed to trap them, to put them out of their misery, because it's a State Park