This coyote, caught by my trail camera a couple of days ago, would seem to have mange. Note how thin its fur is and that there seems to be a bald spot behind the shoulders in the bottom photo.
Trappers in the Nolalu, Ontario, area have reported for years that wolves and coyotes commonly have mange, a highly contagious disease that is caused by parasitic mites.
This is the first case I've seen personally.
The loss of hair can be fatal to these animals since they don't have the insulation to fend off the cold.
Mange can spread to other animals, including dogs and horses. I know of one horse farm near us that years ago had many of its horses infected. The owners eventually discovered that coyotes and wolves were sneaking into the barn at night just to keep warm.
I've kept our dog, Sam, on his Revolution heartworm and tick medication throughout the winter, just because it is said to be effective at also preventing mange. There is no chance of his contacting heartworm or ticks in the winter here.
I would suspect that the explosion in the whitetail deer population caused by our ever-milder winters is at least partly to blame for the mange problem. The huge deer numbers support far more wolves and coyotes that prey on the deer. The increase in the predators mean they come into contact with each other more frequently.
In Northwestern Ontario coyotes are frequently called "brush wolves."
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