Contagious Disease Affecting Wild Animals in South Texas

There are a growing number of cases of Sarcoptic Mange being discovered in the wild. It all has to do with a mite that gets under the skin of animals. And in Cuero, world wide attention was called to the Chupacabra.....an animal that had no hair on it's body. Now they are discovering more animals in our hometown countryside with similar conditions. A warning -- the graphic images in this story may be disturbing to some viewers. Called Sarcoptic Mange.......the mite attacks the skin of an animal, causing irritation and in most cases, the fur or hair falls off. The condition is highly contagious, and can spread to not only other animals. It is similar to scabies ......the extremely itchy condition caused by mites. "This condition, it's Admemal mites basically, and it gets underneath the skin. And it does cause total hair loss. Then after the hair is gone, the skin is exposed to UV and begins to wrinkle. Wrinkle on top of wrinkle. And the animal almost gets un-recognizable." says Scott Mitchell, Biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife. And although this animal looks like a wild pig, it's actually a raccoon without hair....In addition to wrinkling the skin.......it can cause the animals mouth to fold up toward the teeth. Typically.....wolves.....foxes and coyotes as well as other animals found with the mange are separated from the packs of other animals in the wildlife population...KAVU-TV

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