The furry nature of the foot of the red fox is evi- 

 dent in these tracks in mud. The print of a fore 

 foot of this fox is below; that of a hind foot is 

 above. 



Identification of these tracks in sand depends 

 mainly on marks of the small toe pads. The print 

 of the fore foot of a red fox is below, that of the 

 hind foot is above. 



objective in trapping procedures is to reduce the 

 fox population more quickly than the disease will 

 and thereby shorten the period of infection and the 

 danger of its spread to other animals and man." 



Control programs which are undertaken after 

 rabies outbreaks occur are unreasonably expen- 

 sive. A rabies epi2ootic is not economically de- 

 sirable from the view of maintaining a healthy fox 

 resource. Under normal circumstances, public op- 

 position to the fox in many areas is out of propor- 

 tion to actual damage done by the animal; rabies 

 scares certainly do not promote in the public a 

 more moderate attitude toward the fox. In one 

 sense, the expenditure of money required to reduce 

 a fox population in a rabies control program is the 

 cost of restoring the population to health once in- 

 fection has occurred. In other words, this seems 

 to be an example of the price of mismanagement of 

 a natural resource, for the evidence indicates that 

 such an expenditure could be avoided or minimized 

 by promoting the maintenance of fox populations at 



lower levels through hunting and trapping for sport 

 or fur. 



Red Foxes and the Bounty System 



It seems likely that several million dollars 

 may have been expended on fox bounties in the 

 United States during the past 20 years. Perhaps 

 the exact amount is not important to this discus- 

 sion, for our concern is largely with economic 

 policy. 



The bounty system has been carefully re- 

 viewed and found wanting by a number of workers, 

 in recent years by Arnold (1952a) and Hamilton 

 (1946). Latham (1951:60-7) has reported what he 

 believed to have been the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of the bounty system in general. The ad- 

 vantages which he listed for the bounty system 

 seem to have been outweighed by the disadvan- 

 tages, especially when controlling a red fox popu- 

 lation constitutes the primary objective. 



8 



