The Claim: "Bristol University released mange infected foxes" -Time to address that rumour.

The one rumour that I kept hearing for a number of years was that the old Bristol University fox project had been paid by MAFF/DEFRA to release sarcoptic scabies (mange) in Bristol foxes to see how fast something like rabies would spread in an urban environment. No one was willing to publicly come forward to state this but Bristol plus foxes and, of course, I stuck my nose in.

I asked Bristol University whether it would be possible to view the former mammal group papers?  Despite a written letter and emails not a single response which, honestly, on the face of it seems slightly damning.  Bu8t I found a page talking about the new fox study and who was involved in the work. Nothing. I telephoned and got the impression that the person I spoke to thought I was a little nuts as there "hasn't been a fox project for years".

And online papers from the fox group are not available to anyone outside of a university or one of the qualifying institutions. I am used to this as over four decades of studying foxes, their history, health and so on, does not count. It only counts IF I am parft of an institution and my papers do no0t count form the same reason even if I am a named author on three papers from a university.

So this left the rumours to continue.

 Looking at Stephen Harris and Philip Baker's Urban Foxes book there are things that are quite off ; they state mange kills more foxes than cars. In 2023 alone over 250 foxes were reported as killed or fatally injured by cars. At the same time mange deaths seemed to be declining due to fast treatment. But then, there is a far better reporting system in place and it covers the City and County of Bristol not just North West Bristol.

But at one point this claim was true because up until 1994 mange was not reported in Bristol. That is the reason so many fox watchers who cared for minor injuries etc were caught off guard and could not help in 1994/1995.

I keep stating 94% of Bristol foxes were killed off but looking at some other data the 95%+ figure for the number of foxes that died does seem more accurate.

There have been rumours for a long time that Bristol Uni and its fox study deliberately released mange into the City as part of a study to see how fast rabies would spread as noted and while I may disagree with some of what Harris states I would never believe that he would do such a thing (a criticism (?) against him has been that he is an animal lover and a fox lover to boot).

If you read the item below you will find that the fox involved is said to have left the City and then returned with mange. I can find no evidence contradicting this account but Bristol University releasing any research material might back this up.