Unless the forest department treats infected foxes, the disease will spread, they warn
A desert fox infected with mange in Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan. Photo: Radheshyam Bishnoi Wildlife conservationists have expressed concern after locals spotted a few desert foxes, found in the scrub forests of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, suffering from a loss of fur due to the mange skin disease.
Conservationists said there were chances that the disease could spread to more individuals if no steps were taken to treat the infected foxes.
There were 8,331 foxes — both Indian and desert foxes — in the state according to the 2019 wildlife census of Rajasthan. There were 6,715 in the territorial area and 1,616 in protected areas. There were 386 foxes in the Desert National Park (DNP) and 317 outside it in Jaisalmer.
“The very first time we spotted mange in the desert fox was in 2006. We informed the wildlife department. But even now, nothing has been done to treat them,” Sumit Dookia, wildlife biologist and faculty at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, said.
Locals have photographed several such desert foxes with the skin condition, some with 100 per cent fur loss. The parasitic mite that causes mange lives in the hair follicles and causes irritation and itching.
“Sarcoptic mange is caused by the parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei. When the infected animal scratches and the skin breaks, it lays eggs and multiplies. The affected area becomes scabbed and no hair grow there,” Dookia said.
He added: “The forest department’s attitude towards it has been quite dismissive. We tried to draw their attention to the matter two years ago. But no steps have been taken towards treatment so far.”
Locals and the wildlife department are also at loggerheads when it comes to talking about the number of infected individuals. Locals say they have spotted at least 15 foxes with mange and their numbers are on the rise.
However, the forest department maintains that there are less than five such individuals in the area, Radheshyam Bishnoi, a local conservationist told Down To Earth.
“Mange in desert foxes is not a big problem. These are sporadic cases, not an outbreak. We have not seen desert foxes infected with mange in other districts.
“There are hardly four or five such individuals in the Pokhran block of Jaisalmer. They might have come in contact with dead camel carcasses which might have been infected and the disease may have spread to them too,” Kapil Chandrwal, divisional forest officer in DNP, said.
Dookia disagreed. “The disease spreads from one individual to another and we have been spotting 8-10 infected individuals every year, which clearly indicates that the disease is spreading. According to my estimates, it might have spread to over 30 per cent individuals in Jaisalmer district,” he said.
The treatment of mange in camels is not a piece of cake as it requires both oral medicines as well as application of skin medicine.
However, it has become difficult for the forest department to figure out a way to administer the medicine to the desert fox.
“I am worried that the disease may cause deaths of the animals. It spreads over the whole body and causes itching. When this happens, the animals keep scratching all day long. It ruins their appetite and ultimately, they die of infection in the wounded areas, coupled with starvation,” Dookia said.
He suggested mixing the mange medicine in local waterholes to administer it to the foxes, without having to catch them.
“The only way to treat them is to catch them, which is a big task. Though people suggest mixing the medicine in water bodies where these foxes drink from, I am afraid it is not a good solution as other animals drink from the same water bodies and if they drink too much water, it may cause an overdose of the medicine in the animals too,” Shravan Rathore, wildlife veterinarian in DNP told DTE.
Rathore said the disease was self-limiting and did not cause death. “Animals lie in ash and when they sit in water for long, the ticks die. They are able to cure the disease themselves and it should not be a cause of worry,” he said.
Rathore added that he will look into the matter and extend all possible help to the forest department if they think about treating the animals.
The experts are at a loss to say whether the contagious skin disease reached the fox from the camels or the other way round.
Rathore said foxes that were closer to villages had been observed to have developed the skin condition. But he could not say with surety as to how they contacted the disease in the first place.
“Since these are wild animals and they scratch their backs on the same trees, drink water from the same water bodies, there are chances of disease spread,” Rathore said.
He added that camels also grazed in the same area and sat under the shade of the same Khejri and Ber trees where foxes roamed. So it became difficult to pinpoint as to where the disease first began.
“It is also possible that they got it from stray dogs who live in villages,” he said.
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