Feral foxes in Australia
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
was introduced to Australia in the 19th century for hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
in 1843 near Melbourne, but has since become widespread, and is considered responsible for the decline in a number of species of native animals in the "critical weight range". In a program known as Western Shield
Western Shield
Western Shield, managed by Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, is a nature conservation program, safeguarding Western Australia's native animals and rescuing them from extinction...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n state government authorities conduct aerial and hand baiting on almost 35,000 km² (8.75 million acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s) to control foxes and feral cat
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
s. The West Australian conservation department, CALM, estimates introduced predators are responsible for the extinction of ten native species in that state, while Western Shield
Western Shield
Western Shield, managed by Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, is a nature conservation program, safeguarding Western Australia's native animals and rescuing them from extinction...
targets the conservation of 16 others.
According to the Tasmanian government, red foxes were introduced to the previously fox free island of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1999 or 2000. An eradication program is being conducted by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water
Department of Primary Industries and Water
The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment is the department of the Government of Tasmania responsible for supporting primary industry development, the protection of Tasmania's natural environment, effective land and water management and the protection of Tasmania's...
. An independent member of the Tasmanian state Parliament, Ivan Dean
Ivan Dean
Ivan Noel Dean, APM , is an Australian politician. He has been an independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council since 2003, representing the electorate of Windermere. He also served as Mayor of Launceston from 2005 to 2007....
, has claimed that the fox introductions are a hoax, a claim the Minister for Primary Industry, David Llewellyn
David Llewellyn (Australian politician)
David Edward Llewellyn is a former Australian politician, who was an Australian Labor Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1986 to 2010...
described as a "load of rubbish". Tasmania is estimated to have the carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
to support a population of up to 300 000 foxes.
In Australia, foxes are usually controlled with baits
Bait (luring substance)
Bait is any substance used to attract prey, e.g. in a mousetrap.-In Australia:Baiting in Australia refers to specific campaigns to control foxes, wild dogs and dingos by poisoning in areas where they are a problem...
or the animals shot with the aid of spotlighting
Spotlighting
Spotlighting or Lamping is a method of hunting nocturnal animals using off-road vehicles and high-powered lights, spotlights, lamps or flashlights, that makes special use of the eyeshine revealed by many animal species. A further important aspect is that many animals Spotlighting or Lamping (also...
. The eyeshine signature (from the tapetum lucidum
Tapetum lucidum
The tapetum lucidum is a layer of tissue in the eye of many vertebrate animals....
in the eye) of foxes, and body shape and silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
are used to identify them. Success has also been found with the reintroduction of the native "Australian Dog", the Dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
, which has been shown to control the number of wild foxes, and a consequential increase in native fauna.