Admittance date: 29th November 2024
Barney was cage-trapped in order to be treated for a nasty case of mange. Over the past week with us, he has lost a lot of fur as crust associated with mange has fallen off, taking the fur with it. However, this is a necessary process in order for fresh fur to grow back in its place. He may still look a bit of a state, but he's definitely showing improvement in the short amount of time that he's been with us and we hope that this continues.
13/12 update: Barney continues to show progress, and now pretty much all crust has come off his backside and face without any intervention from ourselves. We did try him in one of the outdoor pens to acclimitise him to the cold weather, but it proved to be to stressful for him and so we were forced to move him back into the unit into a kennel. We'll keep him in a little longer just till we start seeing signs of fur growth, and then he can be taken back home in time for the mating season.
18/12 update: Happy to report that Barney was released back home today after several weeks with us. As the photographs illustrate, fur will often come out when a fox is recovering from mange, so whilst it may look as though they are deteriorating, the skin is improving, and fur will grow back on its own accord over time. Barney had clearly had enough of being in a kennel with us as was making a complete mess overnight, as if in protest at his captivity. Being a wild animal, there is only so much they can take in captivity, and we do not like to keep each fox in until they grow a full coat of fur as it would quite simply be detrimental to well-being, especially when they put so much effort into getting out and risk phsyical injury to themselves. Barney was particularly at risk of this, as he simply couldn't be left in a pen due to the stress it was causing him in the short period he was in one, and despite efforts we put into 'damage proofing' kennels, the foxes still manage to find a way to injure claws scratching to get out.