Listeria has been found in two New Hampshire wild gray foxes by investigators at the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. A zoonotic disease, the bacterium listeria monocytogenes can sicken both people and farm animals.

In addition to listeria monocytogenes, both foxes also were infected with a distinct strain of canine distemper virus that is unique to wildlife in New England. One fox also was infected with the emerging virus Skunk Adenovirus-1, the first time it has been reported in a fox or any canid in the world.