POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

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POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by pajamatime » 12 Apr 2016, 12:31 pm

The Prudent see the evil and hide but the Naive keep going and are punished for it
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by happyhunter » 12 Apr 2016, 8:55 pm

There is no definite solution. On going control methods are as good as it is going to get. Something to consider is the urban and town populations of red fox. You can't shoot or bait in or near populated areas so populated areas are like protected habitat for foxes. Doesn't matter how many you knock off in forest and farmland because there will always be an urban/town pool of breeding foxes looking for territory and migrating out.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by Mr.Seacucumber » 12 Apr 2016, 8:56 pm

Personally I think we should shoot as many as we can because thats the most humane way and then bait the rest. Poor foxes they just have to die :/
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by happyhunter » 12 Apr 2016, 9:05 pm

Mr.Seacucumber wrote:Personally I think we should shoot as many as we can because thats the most humane way and then bait the rest. Poor foxes they just have to die :/


That's exactly what we do, but in reverse, ie lay baits then follow up with ground shooting.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by on_one_wheel » 12 Apr 2016, 9:10 pm

I'm a massive fan shooting foxes but im not kidding myself into thinking that it's the solution.
They need to hit them with everything we've got, shooting, trapping, baiting, biological control (when they find a safe one ) genetic control by introducing sterile genes and anything else that stops the bastards breading and breathing.
The problem is so massive and it covers way too much land for us to cover effectively with trapping, baiting and shooting.
I don't think enough is being done by the government in eradicating pests, but then why would they spend a cent on something that's not a vote grabber. They'd rather spend their time bickering over the Adler.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by <<Genesis93>> » 12 Apr 2016, 10:45 pm

What? No forth option??
I want
d) Adopt all foxes. Theyre people too...they have human rights and deserve to have a say..... :friends:










:sarcasm:

Seriously.... they are underestimated and are impossible to control without a game changing tech, genetic or biological targetting something or other . ... they are a challenge to shoot and a lot of fun.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by happyhunter » 13 Apr 2016, 8:10 am

Hug a fox, lose a finger.. hahaha
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by Gwion » 13 Apr 2016, 8:26 am

It doesn't seem right that we can drive any number of species to extinction but we can't keep foxes and feral cats under control, let alone eradicate them!??! :huh: :wtf: :problem:
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by on_one_wheel » 13 Apr 2016, 9:31 am

Gwion wrote:It doesn't seem right that we can drive any number of species to extinction but we can't keep foxes and feral cats under control, let alone eradicate them!??! :huh: :wtf: :problem:

I often think the same. It's madness.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by <<Genesis93>> » 13 Apr 2016, 9:36 am

Those native animals never had a predator on main land (apparently the devil may have been here many many years ago)
So when a most cunning effective predator is introduced... :unknown:
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by huccl » 18 Apr 2016, 11:18 am

How should the fox invasion be dealt with?


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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by Supporter » 18 Apr 2016, 11:22 am

Some of the language in the article, sigh.....

A fox mauls an egret at the Hunter Wetlands Centre, the latest in a series of killings in the wetlands.


"the latest in a series" like it's a new and shocking event.

How late in the series of killings by foxes? Somewhere in the hundreds of millions? I'm not as shocked as the article suggests I should be.

And to the 30 people who voted to build a fence..... :lol:
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by happyhunter » 18 Apr 2016, 7:18 pm

Gwion wrote:It doesn't seem right that we can drive any number of species to extinction but we can't keep foxes and feral cats under control, let alone eradicate them!??! :huh: :wtf: :problem:


Foxes arrived already perfectly adapted to the Australian environment. There are no natural controls. Foxes are faster with better senses than the natives. Result is natives cannot compete and eventually go extinct and you cannot kill the foxes faster than they breed because by clearing the forests and building cities and towns we have optimised the environment for foxes to survive.
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by RoginaJack » 18 Apr 2016, 9:28 pm

QUOTE; As the fox feasted in a flurry of feathers, Ms Addington’s camera clicked.

“I was rooted to the spot,” she said.

“It dropped that bird, another white egret flew along and it just grabbed it. It was surprising to see a fox in broad daylight, just killing birds.”

Yep, and the poor Egret, well it was just rooted. :mrgreen: :silent:

Ref. Newcastle Herald 18th April, 2016

Lost for words... :lol:
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by on_one_wheel » 18 Apr 2016, 10:21 pm

Supporter wrote:Some of the language in the article, sigh.....

A fox mauls an egret at the Hunter Wetlands Centre, the latest in a series of killings in the wetlands.


"the latest in a series" like it's a new and shocking event.

How late in the series of killings by foxes? Somewhere in the hundreds of millions? I'm not as shocked as the article suggests I should be.

And to the 30 people who voted to build a fence..... :lol:


On a recent trip up and over the top of Lake Torrens SA I was reminded just how ineffective fences are especially when they are massively long and costly to maintain. .. I'm talking about the Dog Fence, the longest fence in the world and the countless meters of it that was laying flat on the ground.
Vermin proof fences are massively expensive to maintain, the man hours alone make it time prohibitive for most station owners along the fence.
I myself spent a year on a station that had about 50 km of the dog fence through it. One of my jobs once a week was to check and repair / maintain that section. On average I would cover about a third of that section in a 12 hour day, you need to travel slow enough to spot holes that dogs can get through ... small holes, there was always holes from roos, horses, camels, donkeys, cattle and emus along with ongoing projects such as total rebuilds and replacing huge sections of foot netting that had been buried in the sand and rusted away.
Half the fence or more is still made from wood taken locally in the 1880's so it's totally stuffed some of that wood is propped up with droppers that are almost as old.
There are entire sections that once stood 6' tall that are barely half that height now due to sand drift.
Working the fence was actually a pretty cool job, there's the chance to shoot pests along the way, there's traps to set and if you get a dog your a local legend for the week, their not easily trapped.

Fences are no way to keep dogs or foxes in or out.

This is actually part of the dog fence,
Yes that gate is sanded open ... usless cnuts!

And the bottom photo ...What fence ?
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by <<Genesis93>> » 19 Apr 2016, 9:11 am

That first pic is a very good effort.... great composure, minimal subect that doesnt confuse with detail, gets the point of the vastness of the land, along with the futility of the ....

Oh sorry I thought this was photography / psychology :D

Seriously though, I like my landscapes, and thats an award winner, got it in high deff?.


Foxes.... you cant practically fence them, just spend a half hour on youtube and see how they jump, climb, and thwart most every effort. Electric lines at 6 foot or higher - they 'learn' them after a few tries....I recall it may have been a CSIRO experiment??

Poinson, yes it works, but I dont personally like the idea of distributing toxic compounds around the place, have done it in the past with the best effort was a laced sheep carcass that in the morning had exactly 14 dead foes within 100m of it....

Shooting and trapping will do it, but in my opinion the only way to control foxes is to provide almost every suburban household a cage type fox trap and employ a team to 'collect' the foxes every day....though I've only trapped them in a jaw type trap - I dont think the urban enviro type would go with that type...

I would like someone to have a go at estimating the numbers of suburban foes, it was said a few yrs ago that Boroondara (local government district in eastern Melbourne suburbs) had the highest density of foes in Vic or possibly Aus....
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Re: POLL - How should the fox invasion be dealt with?

Post by chacka » 19 Apr 2016, 2:05 pm

Image

Oh yeah... That'll work nice! :sarcasm:
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