Red Fox as Foreign Murderer

The Australian Geographic has an article about the decimation of native species on that island-continent by introduced non-native Red Fox.

Between feral cats, wild dogs, Red Fox, and white people (yes, them too) Australia has suffered a massive loss of native wildlife at the hands and jaws of species and populations that have arrived in the last 500 years.

I've written a bit about Red Fox in Australia in the past, but never mentioned why anti-fox terrier work is so rare over there.  Two reasons:  1) Heat and 2) Wombat holes.  

While heat alone is enough to take the shine off of digging for most, wombats are a protected species and their holes (like badger holes in the UK) are frequently used by fox, but are protected by law.

Australian Geographic reports that "1.7 million foxes kill about 300 million native mammals, birds and reptiles each year, and can be found across 80 per cent of mainland Australia."

 

As much carnage as Red Fox inflicts, they take a back seat to feral cats in Australia which clip off over 2 billion mammals, birds and reptiles every year.

• Related Links:
  ** Fox and Feral Cat Abatement in Australia
  ** Terrier Work Down Under
  ** Australia and the End of the Game
  ** Australia's Robot Cat Killer
  ** Australian Mad Scientists Lose Funding for Fox Extinction
  ** Red Tasmanian Devils
  ** The Last Thylacine
  ** Poisoning Lord Howe Island
  ** Kiwi Killers
  ** Cats Causing Extinctions
  ** There's No Such Thing as a Pack of Wild Dogs
  ** Time to Eat More Kangaroo and Camel
  ** Rat Poison and Wildlife Conservation
  ** Steve Irwin Was a Big Fat Liar
  ** The "Show of the Week" in Australia