Red fox holds an answer to Lyme

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To the Editor:

A direct correlation between the killing off of red foxes (a key predator of the white-footed mouse, the primary reservoir of the Lyme disease bacteria) and sharp increases in Lyme disease incidence has been found (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: “Deer, Predators and the Emergence of Lyme Disease”), a relationship I’ve long suspected might exist, prompting me to advocate for a study evaluating the pros and cons of reintroducing red foxes to the Island.

We certainly fit the bill. Our red fox population was killed off some time ago, and our Lyme disease rates are invariably among the highest in the state.

Recently, another animal-importation idea in the fight against Lyme disease on the Vineyard has been floated: releasing into the wild hundreds of thousands, or more, of genetically engineered white-footed mice. The two proposals, at a glance, seemingly at odds with each other — calling to mind the old parable about a fox and a chicken in a rowboat — the red foxes potentially dining on some, or all, of the experimental mice.

Not necessarily. The lab mice program is said to be at least 10 years away and if non-breeding (sterile, or only male, perhaps) red foxes — which typically do not live past five years of age in the wild — were to be released first, conflict between the two programs could be avoided. Additionally, radio collars could be used on the foxes for monitoring purposes.

While a five year or so controlling upper limit to the presence of red foxes on the Island could be established, the genetically altered mice, as I understand it, once resident, would be here, for all intents and purposes, forever.

It remains to be determined, but possibly several to a half-dozen red foxes per square mile might be needed to restore a natural balance to our overabundant Lyme and other infectious disease-bearing rodent communities.

Thomas Sullivan

Vineyard Haven