Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are one of the main reservoir species for rabies in Europe and North America. In areas where fox-mediated rabies is endemic, red foxes are most frequently affected with rabies accounting for 75 – 80 % of all rabies cases (90 – 94 % of all wildlife cases).

Fox rabies is mostly transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal, due to the presence of infectious virus in the saliva of the rabid animal. However, other forms of transmission cannot be ruled out, for example, social grooming of the kits by the mother (vixen).