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Name This Animal

Unknow bird and sick fox?

19 years ago

Hi,

I'm new here to this post, and I hope you can help me... I and another writer, (Kathryn) write for a blog for eBirdSeed.com...

I've run across two cases that I simply cannot pin down... One involves what appears to be a white mourning dove that is clearly not an albino, and the other is a fox with some terrible scarring of the face, and deformations of the legs. You can find pictures of these animals at:

http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/index.html.

And no, this isn't a sales pitch, and no, this isn't a hoax... (My wife and I took these pictures this Fall on Cape Cod...) We're not asking you to buy anything... Just look... But if ANYONE has even the slightest idea about these two pictures, will you PLEASE post a comment on our site. And if you are as clueless as we are, please ask your fellow naturalists...

The bird is just unique. The fox on the other hand may be sick and dangerous... We just don't know...

Any help you could offer here would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance,

Alan Speakman

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Comments (8)

webkat5
19 years ago
I am on dial-up and that page is taking forever to load...can you just give us the links to the images themselves?
ms_minnamouse
19 years ago
It looks as though the fox may have mange. But it's hard to say b/c the picture isn't all that clear and I can't see details.
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alan_2006
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi,

Maybe the permalink below will be faster...

Thanks again...

Alan Speakman

Here is a link that might be useful: Strange bird and wounded fox
sophiemae
19 years ago
The bird appears to be a leucistic mourning dove.

ICA,
Sophie ^i^

Here is a link that might be useful: Leucistic - wikipedia
ccox
19 years ago
poor fox! At first it looked like he had a form of leprosy, but I knew that couldn't be. I found a link that describes what he has---unfortunately it's a long, slow death. If it's still around, I'd call a game warden and maybe they can come put him out of his misery.

"Sarcoptic mange, a skin disease caused by a species of mite (a member of the spider family) causes lesions in the dermal layers of the skin, accompanied by intense itching.These lesions open to the surface and extrude a nasty looking mess with an odor similar to dirty sweat socks. The lesions eventually cover most of the infected animal, somewhat similar to leprosy. Death is almost always the result, often from a secondary infection or possibly hypothermia or frostbite."
Day_By_Day
19 years ago
Yep, this is what I posted last year when I found one in my driveway in FL. He was scratching his rear on the ground the night before, and the next morning, this. Had to call animal control. Such a beautiful animal! :(
comettose
19 years ago
Last one is a grey fox and it appears to be missing it's hind leg but does not have mange. Any word on what is happening to the foxes in your area from animal control? The first Red fox looks like it has mange which is common in foxes, but something is going on with those feet too.
akjim
19 years ago
No doubt about it, that red fox is in the early stages of mange and will die a slow death. Mange will run its cycle, infecting most of the foxes and probably other canines before it's cycle is complete. This is one cruel way that mother nature controls overpopulation of canines. The best way to prevent this is to allow some limited, controlled harvesting by hunters and/or trappers. Mother nature can be very cruel!

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