Dead Fox with no Tail

christina · #1 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 01:37 PM

I've just been for a wander around the garden and came across a dead fox. I assumed it had been hit by a car and managed to get into the garden before dying (it was level with the area where they normally come into garden for the late night snack). But then I noticed he/she has absolutely no tail whatsoever. Question(s): Would another animal chew off the tail? Is it possible that he/she didn't have a tail or would some human dirtbag have cut the tail off as a trophy?
If you want photos I will take some for you. Poor little foxy.

Christina

animartco · #2 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 02:21 PM

There used to be a financial reward for fox tails, but I don't know that there still is. ANyone? is it possible for a tail to rot off with a bad case of mange? Was it mangy? I don't think an animal would have chewed it off there isn't much to eat on a tail. Most likely scenario is that it was broken became gangrenous, and rotted off.

christina · #3 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 02:51 PM

The fox looked in good condition, no sign on mange at all. You can see where the tail was, a bit red but no bleeding of any kind and you can just see what I think is the top of the tail where it was attached. It also appears to have either a very full tummy or it was pregnant vixen. I went back down and had a good look around and there is some fox hair the other side of our fence but that is just a small bit of hair. (and just a few feet away is one of those dreaded doggy poo bags! - now that is just too close to home for my liking, chucking their poo bags on the verge!).

fairplay · #4 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 08:47 PM

Hello Christina,

Cutting off a dead foxes tail is quite a common practice or it was, you soak them in a solution which preserves them. My Grandmother used to have one as part of her 'finery' and certainly was no 'trophy'.
So I think it a little strong to call an unknown person a dirt bag - after all, as the fox was found in your garden, it is highly unlikely somebody would have trespassed just to cut off the tail.

Neil.

Tracey.A · #5 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 09:04 PM

I really don't know what happened to this poor fox, but as there wasn't any blood from the tail I'm just wondering if the fox was already dead when it's tail was removed. Could it have been hit by a car and then after death some ghoul decided that they would have the tail as a trophy? I really don't know, but it's so very sad, poor fox!

Tracey

christina · #6 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fairplay

Hello Christina,

So I think it a little strong to call an unknown person a dirt bag - after all, as the fox was found in your garden, it is highly unlikely somebody would have trespassed just to cut off the tail.

Neil.

Fairplay: IMHO I think that any human who deliberately harms a live animal or mutilates a dead animal is a dirt bag. People will do all kinds of strange and, sometimes, unwanted things to get what they want, going as far as trespassing on someone else's property.

Tracey.A: It is a possibility that was hit by a car. As you say it could have been, and I quote "... hit by a car and then after death some ghoul decided that they would have the tail as a trophy?".

Sad, very sad.

Jason Green · #7 (**permalink**) 20-02-2010, 09:42 PM

Evening Christina,

I wonder if someone shot it (not sport/control), then kept the tail as a trophy? I wonder if it's possible that a Fox can be born missing a tail, or born with a stunted one? I don't really know if that would be possible or even know much about foxes so maybe shouldn't post, but I just thought it offered another explanation.

Eitherway - yes, poor fox

Take care,

Jason

PMG · #8 (**permalink**) 21-02-2010, 08:13 AM

A poss explanation is that its been killed crossing the road - someone has driven or walked past - spotted it and decided to have the tail as as trophy - its still quite widely practiced and after all if the fox was already dead then whats the harm - it would only rot away - its prob gone to hang in some pub poss called the 'Fox and Hounds'

Its also poss that someone has thrown the body over your fence out of the way ........

Pauline

PMG · #9 (**permalink**) 21-02-2010, 08:19 AM

I've seen folks aim at foxes and cats in cars hoping to run them down and I've seen freshly dead foxes at the side of the road with a tail in the morning and none by nightfall .......

Pauline

christina · #10 (**permalink**) 21-02-2010, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PMG

A poss explanation is that its been killed crossing the road - someone has driven or walked past - spotted it and decided to have the tail as as trophy - its still quite widely practiced and after all if the fox was already dead then whats the harm - it would only rot away - its prob gone to hang in some pub poss called the 'Fox and Hounds'

Its also poss that someone has thrown the body over your fence out of the way ........

Pauline

Thank you for your suggestion PMG. There is no pathway outside that part of the garden boundary, just a very uneven verge, the pathway is the otherside of the road and would not have been spotted by a passerby. If someone tried to throw the fox over the garden they would have had to throw it over very tall conifer trees, the way it was laying did not suggest to me that it had been thrown over, but the fox could've come into the garden through the little walkway between the trees which animals have made. It saddens and sickens me that there are people in this world who stil; like "trophies".