+ Biodiversity Impact

The impact of wild dogs on native species varies between areas. Predation by wild dogs can have negative impacts on some threatened species. For example, wild dog predation can be a high source of mortality in koala populations and this combined with habitat fragmentation has the potential to cause local extinctions.

Fox predation is recognised as having a serious impact on many native animals, and is considered to be a major contributor to extinction of some species. Species impacted include: brush tailed and yellow footed rock wallabies, bettongs, numbats, mallee fowl, pied oyster catcher, little tern, plains wanderer, bush stone curlew and the Murray river turtle. There is also little doubt that foxes have an economic impact on sheep, goat, poultry and cattle enterprises.

It is believed that encroachment of residential areas into green belts has left many islands of agricultural land, which still managed to support small numbers of foxes. As these remaining agricultural lands themselves became developed, foxes were isolated and forced to survive exclusively in the urban landscape. Foxes are certainly now becoming a more common pest animal in Australia's major cities.

Urban environments are highly productive for foxes and can support population densities up to 10 times greater than in rural areas. Although primarily carnivores, foxes can survive on a variety of food sources. In urban environments their diet can consist of over 50% scavenged food scraps and left over pet food.

+ The Problem

Foxes can cause a variety of problems in urban environments. They will certainly kill lambs and kid goats and many native species as they do in rural areas. They will also kill small domestic pets and livestock such as rabbits, guinea pigs, poultry and aviary birds.

Fox attacks are often devastating with many animals killed and left uneaten. This is called surplus killing, which is a common trait in many carnivores. Foxes will rarely attack or even interact with domestic cats and dogs. Foxes are also known to turn over garbage bins, dig holes in lawns and disturb the peace through their own vocalisations and by making dogs bark.

A more immediate problem is that of hydatids and the fact that even at a low incidence of infection, foxes are a risk to human health.