Title
Forty-Year Bronx Zoo Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda) Morbidity and Mortality Review (1980-2019)
Author(s)
Rachael Figueroa; Ryan D. Oliveira; John M. Sykes
Published
2022
Abstract
The fennec fox ( Vulpes zerda ) is a small charismatic canid popular in American and Europeanzoological and private collections. The Bronx Zoo has housed fennec foxes since the early1900s and currently has one of the largest populations managed by the fennec fox SpeciesSurvival Plan® (SSP). Of the 83 foxes at the Zoo between 1980 and 2019, 52 medical recordsand 48 mortality reports were available for review. Common causes of morbidity includedtrauma and dermatologic disease, especially atopic dermatitis. Average age at death for animalssurviving past 10 weeks was 9.76 years. Common causes of death/euthanasia were neoplasia(15/48, 31%), with neoplastic processes incidentally identified in an additional seven animals, aswell as infectious disease (14/48, 29%). Significant ante-mortem cardiac changes wereidentified in 22 animals. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was diagnosed in eight animals,consistent with previous documentation of HCC as one of the most common neoplasms in thisspecies. Four animals were suspected to have succumbed to vaccine-induced caninedistemper virus after receiving a modified-live vaccine. No canine distemper infections havebeen documented after 1981 in this population and since using a canarypox-vectoredrecombinant vaccine. Recommendations for management of this species include routinescreening for hepatic neoplasia in adult animals, regular cardiac evaluations including ECG andechocardiogram, and dermatologic workup as described by the current consensus statement oncanine atopic dermatitis.
Keywords
fennec fox; vulpes zerda; bronx zoo; morbidity; mortality

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