I know you are the experts but that looks like a small striped hyena … are you sure it’s a bat eared fox?

The photo is of a Brown Hyaena, which are also very stripy on their legs. We did have a bat eared fox killed on the road, but this photo is of the hyaena whose death we could not explain. We use the stripes on the legs to identify individuals, as each pattern is unique. If you hover your cursor over the picture, it throws up the caption. Apologies for the confusion caused.

Thanks Rox. Where’s Snoopy and Barclay? In in USA and everyone is in love with your dogs and the concept that they are working for conservation!

It look to me that more then his tail is missing…poor baby.

It really was just his tail that was missing. Their hindquarters are remarkably small in comparison to thier front half. It is an adaptation to being able to cover long distances, most noticably also seen in the Blue Wildebeest. There is such a difference in the size of the front paws and back paws, that people often report an adult with a cub from tracks, when really it is a just a normal adult Brown Hyaena.

Very interesting about this adaptation, to enable them to cover long distances. Hopefully, this mystery killer, won’t strike again (rabies?).

Rabies is a possibility though due to the progressive inability to swallow that comes with it, I would have expected a rabid animal to be more dehydrated. I am a zoologist, not a vet though, and only a brain tissue analysis could confirm or rule out rabies.