October Feature: Foxes Although red fox populations suffer from occasional rabies outbreaks, they appear to recover swiftly. Switzerland, France, and several other European countries now control rabies with an oral vaccine which is concealed in fox bait. Although fur farming for the animals' rich red pelt has become widespread, hunters continue to trap wild foxes. During the 1980s, over 500,000 red fox pelts (wild and farmed) per year were sold for an average US$42.50 each. Other foxes hunted or farmed for their fur are: the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), the grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), the swift or kit fox (Vulpes velox), the grey zorro in Chile and Argentina (Dusicyon griseus), and the South American Azara's zorro (Dusicyon gymnocercus), found in Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina. The trade in grey zorro pelts is greater than that of any other canid species listed in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Copyright 1997, The World Wide Fund For Nature