After successful fundraising efforts from a dedicated group of local hunters, the NH Wildlife Heritage Foundation secured funding for a comprehensive study to investigate distemper (CDV) impacts on New Hampshire’s furbearers last year. The department initially requested turn-in of carcasses from grey foxes hunted or trapped during the legal hunting and trapping seasons. This year, that study has now expanded to include a desire for carcasses from both Red and Grey Fox, as well as Fisher.
New strain of canine distemper confirmed in NH, VT
Pathologists with the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at the University of New Hampshire have been working on study of CDV in multiple wildlife species for a few years. The disease may already be having an impact on populations of wild mesocarnivores in New Hampshire and New England, including fox and fisher.
Predator "preservationists" pounce on Fisher population trends
Is New Hampshire finding its way out of a cyclical “boom and bust” fisher trend? Current data is great for checking trends, but does it give you the root cause of a perceived decline? Biologists have stated fisher appear to be adapting (and thriving) in more urban areas; have these creatures forgone the dense hemlock groves where trappers roam for the dumpsters and back decks of suburban sprawl?
New Hampshire Trappers: Turn in your tissue!
New Hampshire’s trappers are once again being called upon to assist with wildlife conservation in the region. The state’s trapping community intends to fully answer the call. Multiple conservation-oriented projects are being administered by different agencies, and they’re all requesting tissue and carcass samples from legally trapped furbearing wildlife for scientific testing and research.
Outfoxed: Revisited
Will those who decry hunting and promote a "hands-off" approach to wildlife conservation readily accept the outcome of their decisions? What if one's hatred for the regulated take of wildlife through hunting and trapping meant sacrificing wildlife diversity for future enjoyment? Are we collectively satisfied with the regular scraping of decaying fox carcasses off our lawns?