Sarcoptic (Fox) Mange part two

Treatment for scruff the fox turned up a couple of days ago.  I've moved the time for putting the sandwich out from mid afternoon to last light in the evening.  He usually wanders through our garden mid afternoon and stops for a sleep if the weather's good, but as it hasn't been the most pleasant weather he's been a bit irregular and the bread was being pecked by the local magpies.
I do wonder if someone else has been treating him - he's not biting and scratching himself anywhere near as vigorously as he was a week ago, and I don't think I've been treating him long enough to take effect.  no problem if he is getting two treatments - the stuff is homeopathic and isn't injurious to other animals or at higher doses to the fox.  I need to keep the camera handy and start taking a series of pictures to detect and record the regrowth of his tail fur.
I haven't mowed the lawn for months now, it's looking more like a small field out there.  Original reason was the lack of rain - the grass stays green better if it's a bit longer.  As it grew the tracks of visiting wildlife became more visible.  It was actually possible to see where the hedgehog had pushed through the grass in search of slugs.  Their scat is distinctive, so I knew we had a visiting hog, but it was nice to track his wanderings round our garden.
Had an unrecognised small brown bird in our garden too.  It came up close to the patio doors.  it must be the young of one of the common garden birds, possibly a blackbird - must look it up.
We had been visited by rats coming in from behind next door's shed.  Not a huge number, but they were occasional visitors to examine our compost heaps.  3 months ago they were fairly frequent visitors, but since then I've seen less traces to the point where none have been seen for some weeks.  The foxes eat the rats, I'm wondering if the mange outbreak is in any way connected with the rats' disappearance.
Scruff the fox is the only local fox we've got a the moment.  I'm assuming White tip (scruff's vixen), Pongo (White tips cub last year), Joe and Jane (recent incoming foxes with few markings) have all died in this mange outbreak.  None of them have been seen now for a couple of months, their regular runs are fading and their laying up spots are unused.  It is looking hopeful for scruff now though.  From what I've read the surviving foxes will quickly breed to fill up the spare territories created by these departures.
Country watch on the TV has been featuring foxes at Pitsea Tip, which is only a few miles away from where I am.  Lovely shots of this years cubs, but they are rather too used to humans feeding them - they're a bit too tame for my liking.  I'll have to see if there's public access so I can take my camera down there.
The charity (query that, no registered charity number) that supplied the mange treatment (for free!), National Fox Welfare Society, has got loads of information on their site.  They're also after members and volunteers to assist injured or ill foxes in your local area.  I'd love to look after and raise orphaned cubs, but I've got mixed feelings about maybe making them too tame and about reintroducing what are after all vermin, back into the wild.
Only a couple of weeks now and I'll be off to Kent for another weekend in private woodland.  Didn't see the foxes down there last time, I'll have to make a special effort to look for them.

Red Foxes - Sarcoptic Mange

I take a great interest in foxes - I regard them as my ally animal in bushcraft.
Shortly after the mating season this year all the urban foxes disappeared from our garden - usual for the vixens, but the males had been sunning themselves in the open until they suddenly went.  Just a few days ago, after weeks of absence, a big male I call scruff walked across the lawn - he was in a dreadful state with a bare tail and an even more patchy coat than his norm.  Yesterday a smaller male with similar problems stayed in our garden long enough for me to get a quick photo.  Posted the pics on facebook, one of my friends asked what I was doing about it...

Well, it really hadn't occurred to me to actually do anything;  I'm interested in the foxes, but quite prepared to let nature take it's course.  I'd usually never feed or try to tame a wild animal.  A quick look on the web found www.nfws.org.uk - national fox welfare charity which had loads of info on mange.  Emailed my pictures to them to check it really was mange, they emailed back within 12 hours - it certainly was mange and they asked for my address to post a (free) treatment to me.  I'll have to feed the fox(es) with bait containing the homeopathic treatment.  That's a bit against my principles, but secretly I'll be delighted if the foxes get to trust me and tolerate me near them. The attitude and service provided by the NFWS is exactly what a charity should be, a huge thumbs up to them.  Not everyone is going to approve as foxes are vermin and can be a real problem, but no animal should be left to suffer a lingering death through something nasty (but curable) like mange.  I know that's inconsistent with letting nature take its course, but...

I'll also take this opportunity to air my odd view on fox hunting.  I'm pro hunting as well as pro foxes.
If that seems strange, my reasoning is that if foxes are valuable to the country community, even if it's for something many find abhorrent (i.e. hunting), they will be allowed to survive or even nurtured.  If they're valueless, and a nuisance to boot, it would be quite easy to wipe them out completely.

With hunting fox populations will be controlled rather than eliminated.  The habitats they need such as copses will be kept.  The hunts will want hedges rather than barbed wire round the fields.  The hunts do also tend to take out the weaker members of the fox population.

Without hunting there is no incentive to maintain a population of foxes, or to maintain the habitat they need.

Another thought concerning foxes killing hens and caged domestic pets.  If humans are going to cage animals which are natural prey to foxes, it's the human's responsibility to ensure the protection is sufficient.  Imagine the terror of those caged animals if a fox gets into their cage - they're totally unable to obey their instincts to flee.  It's my opinion (based on no evidence) that the fox kills a whole coop full of hens to shut them up.  It must frighten or confuse the fox that the hens don't try to escape, but stay there squawking their heads off at him.
And a pic of a happier fox -