A HELMINTHOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WILD RED FOXES (VULPES-VULPES) FROM THE METROPOLITAN-AREA OF COPENHAGEN

Sixty-eight red foxes were collected from the metropolitan area of Cop enhagen and examined for helminth infections. Standard faecal flotatio ns for intestinal parasites gave the following results: Strongyle eggs (75.0%), Capillaria eggs (36.8%), Toxocara eggs (23.5%), Taenia eggs (1.5%), and coccidia oocysts (2.9%). Gastrointestinal helminths were c ollected from 21 of the 68 foxes with the following specimens found: U ncinaria stenocephala (85.7%), Toxocara canis (81.0%), Taenia spp. (38 .1%), Mesocestoides lineatus (23.8%) and Polymorphus spp. (9.5%). Faec es of 39 foxes were examined by the Baermann method for larvae of card iopulmonary worms with 20 foxes (51.3%) being infected. Fourteen foxes (35.9%) were infected with Angiostrongylus vasorum, 11 (28.2%) were i nfected with Crenosoma vulpis, and 5 foxes (12.8%) were infected with both species. Muscle digestion of diaphragms from the 68 foxes indicat ed that none harboured larvae of Trichinella spiralis.