Handling foxes.

finnbear270

Well-Known Member
You learn something every day, over on AR, I read a post by someone that deals with something called Alveolar echinococcosis, now I always have used gloves when handling shot fox,purely to prevent the chance of transmitting mange & the like to dogs etc, also I like to keep the scent off me if possible, (violent emptying of the scent glands can sometimes occur with bullet strikes), this disease is passed to humans by hand to mouth, or from infected grass / windfall fruit etc much the same as the way ordinary tapeworms get about, the symptoms can resemble liver failure as in alcoholics, it can be fatal if not diagnosed & treatment is usually surgery to remove the cyst/s, the register of this diseases development up until 2000 has nil cases (known) in the UK, when one case was identified, 10 years on I think it's even more important to use gloves when dealing with fox.
 
I wonder how many fox hounds catch it as they will be exposed to and diseases foxes carry when they catch one on the hunt.
 
You learn something every day, over on AR, I read a post by someone that deals with something called Alveolar echinococcosis, now I always have used gloves when handling shot fox,purely to prevent the chance of transmitting mange & the like to dogs etc, also I like to keep the scent off me if possible, (violent emptying of the scent glands can sometimes occur with bullet strikes), this disease is passed to humans by hand to mouth, or from infected grass / windfall fruit etc much the same as the way ordinary tapeworms get about, the symptoms can resemble liver failure as in alcoholics, it can be fatal if not diagnosed & treatment is usually surgery to remove the cyst/s, the register of this diseases development up until 2000 has nil cases (known) in the UK, when one case was identified, 10 years on I think it's even more important to use gloves when dealing with fox.

Makes you think, I have never bothered with gloves to handle fox, but know that my Belgian clients wont touch them
wont even go near them, won't go close enough to see if its a dog or a vixen they have shot.
 
It says in that article that the fox tapeworm which carries alveolar echinococcosis isn't present in Britain.
 
They carry standard dog roundworm and also Weils too so hygiene precautions are sensible. Personally I don't usually bother with gloves with foxes unless it's a particularly messy carcass but I'm obviously careful with hand hygiene afterwords. In order to get infected with roundworm you need to injest the eggs found in faeces, and to be honest, you are as likely to come into contact with fox faeces crawling around in the countryside doing other things as you are actually handling a fox in my opinion.

Alex
 
Ah! but us yokels do it deliberately so that our immune systems are exposed to all the "nasties" that lurk out there and develop resistance etc. That's why we never get ill and never go to a doctor. It is possible to be too clean;).
 
Makes you think, I have never bothered with gloves to handle fox, but know that my Belgian clients wont touch them
wont even go near them, won't go close enough to see if its a dog or a vixen they have shot.

Yes Sir,I have never bothered to don gloves for skinning foxes and my count is in the thousands skinned after we shot them semi pro while skin prices were high.
 
Having worked Terriers to fox for over 40yrs and handled hundreds of foxes and never wore gloves, also ran a rat pack in the 1970s and 80s, but now a bit wiser so will wear gloves when handling rats and my rat traps ATB Ye old stalker
 
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