Mange, caused by Sarcoptes scabiei mites, causes extreme suffering in fox, badger, and other wildlife populations. Understanding and treating wildlife disease is a growing welfare priority.
Mange-affected wildlife experience weeks to months of intensifying welfare harm before death. Affected foxes develop crusty, thickened skin covering their bodies, lose their fur, and are unable to thermoregulate — leading to hypothermia deaths in winter. The itching is chronic and debilitating. Mange represents one of the clearest cases where human intervention in wild animal welfare is both justified and feasible. Individual treatment is effective; population-level treatment through medicated bait is being developed. The welfare case for treating mange in wildlife is compelling — it reduces prolonged suffering, is reversible (treated animals recover fully), and does not disrupt ecological function.