Anyone seen a fox?

[gorby]

I've just planted around 150 birch trees, and the neighbour's cats come and *&^%$#! on them everyday. Council will do nothing about it.

BANG. I mean, surely there's some way to deal with it, without violence.....

when you drain the coolant from your car,please don't leave it in a dish where the cats can get to it because they are attracted to it and it will make them very sick

[the_camera_poser]

I'd never poison a cat........

[tastrax]

Re the cats - I am surprised no one mentioned aspirin or paracetamol

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/homework/s95551.htm

[johnw]

I reiterate my dislike of feral cats. I believe that they must be humanely eradicated if we are to preserve our remaining native wildlife populations throughout Australia. Unfortunately they are not the only threats however.

[the_camera_poser]

Re the cats - I am surprised no one mentioned aspirin or paracetamol

I almost did. My next door neighbours have told me that aspirin dissolved in a saucer of milk is a solution. Didn't know about paracetamol though.

Bang!

My problem is, as much as I hate people's cats- it's not the cats that *&^%$#! me off- it's the people. I'd rather feed them antifreeze, rather than the cats- after all- they are just doing what they are built to do. At heart i'm a giant softy when it comes to animals- 10 years as a wildlife rehab worker doesn't help.

So..people.........BANG......LMAO

[Robbo]

I have to agree. Its in the cat's nature to hunt and kill. The onus is therefore the people who deem it their right to 'own' the things to care for them in the right way - a vain hope!

We just need to keep chipping away to make people aware of this, I guess.

Tony Robinson

[corvus]

Can we get over the Cat Killing thing please I cannot believe that anyone would want to cause undue pain and suffering to any animal,its the irresponsible owners who are at fault.
I am in favour of registration and compulsory de -sexing of all Domestic cats and humane eradication of Feral cats ,dogs and dare I say the Fox.

[MrCAMEL]

Typing of foxes, I did see a fox at Camdale near Burnie, in 2006 I think it was, while working on a farm. A fox man came and quizzed me and I took him to the area and we found that there was already a bait site setup in a bush nearby. I cant remember much, but he said the chances of it being a fox was very good/excellent, or something like that. I do remember getting real pumped up when I saw it and thinking, Wow, what happens now?

[the_camera_poser]

Well, one sighting.

[tasadam]

as for Fox's they were introduced back in the old days but they didnt catch on(devils and quoll's) there was even a fox hunt up in the Middlesex plains

Finally someone else that has heard of this - I heard stories of this some 15 or more years ago by some horse-minded people. It had no substance so I have never spoke of it.

Re the Longford guy with the cats - good on him.
Re the "Fox evidence spikes" article, well, interesting -

Mr Johnston said the fact the number of fox sightings had remained static was also a positive result for the eradication program.

"There have been 163 this year, of which 20 have been rated as excellent," he said.

Excellent? Intereting choice of words. Like "Excellent, now I get to justify my job a bit longer"??
Cynical view? Yes. When they come up with hard evidence or do a line search with all the hundreds if not thousands of shooters they can muster, and they actually catch or even kill a fox, then my cynical view might be tamed.
How come the task force don't ever, EVER come up with a kill? A carcus of their own finding?
They lay the baits, they find some scats, they spend money on DNA evidence on the scats they find, but they have not found ONE fox.

Cats.
I have a cat trap. I have destroyed a number of feral cats in my area. When I catch a cat and I don't feel like bulleting its head, or I think there is a chance it might be someone's pet, I take it to the vet. They check it for a microchip. No chip then it gets a dose of the "greeen dream" and I get my trap back.
Another suggestion as put forward to me by someone from parks a long time ago was to immerse the trap in a couple of feet of water for a couple of minutes. Someone that clearly dislikes feral cats more than I.
Re the neighbourhood problem, get yourself a trap. It will work.
When you catch your neighbour's cat/s, you have a choice - either give it back to your neighbour telling them it's their last chance, or take it to the vet that deals with that kind of thing. The council or the RSPCA may know which vet you can take an animal to when you have caught it and think it is feral.
My advice would be that if you can keep the fact that you have a trap hidden, then when your neighbour's cat/s go missing (last seen in your yard), you won't get the blame.
If you take the "last chance" line, then when / if one does go "missing", neighbourhood fueds can be ugly.

Yes I have a cat. And a dog. Both "fixed".
Dog sleeps inside and is always yarded.Cat lives inside and only goes outside on the odd occasion for walks on a harness and lead. Quite a sight... It's an Oriental. If you find one of these in your trap, it's more than likely someone's pet because they're very expensive and you cannot buy one that's not been fixed up unless you're a registered breeder. I thought I should mention that coz you will think it's feral - they're a mental thing.
I agree all cats should be registered and until the problem subsides, all cats should be nutted as well. But if this costs money, all the people out there that don't care are only gonna dump their cats - don't have the "heart" (brains) to destroy their animal so give it to the wildlife to be destroyed instead.
What to do? Don't know, but doing something about the population of feral cats is probably more paramount than looking for foxes until such time as they find something better than 20 or so "excellent" sightings.
Then when the feral cat problem is better, the rabbit population will explode.
Gotta start somewhere though.
Foxes. Cats. Rabbits. We humans introduced them. We know it's now wrong. We should fix it.

[Joe]

I remember some of the more proactive councils were introducing a cat registration system. I think latrobe was one of these (maybe another reason that latrobe is one of tassies most progressive areas). I have been an outspoken advocate of this system for a long time. I like cats...but they need regulation far more than dogs imho. Its malaise and reluctance to stir up bad press on councils behalfs i guess....Cant see my local council managing it anytime soon. They would struggle to organise drink up at brewery.

[Nuts]

22 'fox positive' scats have been found statewide since march...woohoo... hold on...er..

[flyfisher]

Does anybody know where they have been found?

FF

[Steve]

Last updated: July 2008. This was in the Advocate a little while ago.

[tasadam]

Hang on, Lilico beach road kill 2006 - I thought they proved that one was an import?

OK So I did some googling and came up with some interesting reporting.

I will say that I seriously hope that there are no foxes in Tasmania; that if there are the Government acts to eradicate them; and that we get given the truth on the matter.

Now I know they say "Don't believe everything you read in the paper", but...
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0, ... 21,00.html

"Are there foxes in Tasmania? I do not know," Mr Dean told the Legislative Council this week. "Is there evidence of hoax reporting, hoax sightings and hoax finding of foxes in Tasmania . . . evidence being fabricated and many inconsistencies, discrepancies and irregularities regarding the alleged existence of foxes in Tasmania?

"Yes is the answer to all those questions."

and

"There is clear evidence that demonstrates a lot of the information about the presence of foxes that the Government is providing to the public is not right," Mr Dean said.

I ask, is this to justify their spending? All that money and no result could mean an end to the fox free task force? So they have to exaggerate a bit to get continued funding? I dunno.

Some more interesting reading...
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/we ... fox-farce/

http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/we ... s-tell-us/

And from this http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/lc/dea ... ings-q.htm

Third, what are the laboratory DNA results from the scats collected in the vicinity of Lillico Beach of a fox incident earlier this year?

Question three, of the 23 scats collected in the vicinity of the fox activity and likely numbers certainly could explain the spate, especially since it is indicative of Lillico Beach fox incident, none were found to be that of a fox.

Some comments -
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/we ... this-nest/

http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.a ... 43959.aspx

A letter from Wildlife Tourism Australia to David Lewellyn - http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:EN ... cd=8&gl=au
One quote from that letter -

Hard evidence of foxes continues to come in as a steady trickle and includes the recent discovery of a fox cub at Lillico (evidence that foxes have bred in Tasmania)

but in follow up reports it would seem the fox was not born there as was initially reported - an example of how part of a story can be sensationalised to put a slant on the story one might want to tell.

The best for last - http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/we ... sh7fx?open
"Accurate" information from out DPIW.

Hey, I was wondering.
The Scat detector dogs have been trained to sit when they detect a fox scat.

Scat received a positive 'sit' response from the detector dog

Just say, for example, there were no foxes in Tasmania. Then what about these poor dogs that never get to sit? Maybe they were just tired?

I know it's not a laughing matter but there does seem to be a heck of a lot of misinformation out there, and not much in the way of factual stuff.
And if they're collecting so many scats, why no fox yet? Not one?
Apart from things like this -

A fox is shot near Symmons Plains (known as the ‘Bosworth’ fox) and the carcass retrieved. Contents of gut revealed evidence of an endemic species, indicating that the fox had been living in Tasmania, eating native animals.

Which does sound most concerning.
But it too has its aura of mystery - evidence proving the dead fox ran out in front of a car...
All I want is the truth.

[Nuts]

Just say, for example, there were no foxes in Tasmania. Then what about these poor dogs that never get to sit? Maybe they were just tired?

I know it's not a laughing matter but........

but that is quite funny...

The FTF will never be any more than an attempt to be seen to be doing something. It has always been admitted that the Task Force will have no chance of actually controlling and established 'outbreak', merely let us know that it has happened.

The 'perfect storm' in a funding teacup.

Really- I had at least 4 cats pass thru my yard last night, I have gathered their scatts and they Were cats and they Were there and they eat wildlife and they are arguably more efficient hunters than the fox. In fact I am confused as to why they have not established large unchecked breeding colonies....

I think it should be a 'feral' task force, charged with their removal (they could still have a fox sub-committee and a fox 'strike force' (The 'Scatt team' ))

All this assumes a group capable of 'outsmarting' reynard, ...

[tasadam]

So you've got these dogs that are trained to sit at the smell of a fox's scatt.
Why not train them to seek out, attack and kill the foxes?

I know the answer to that.
So there's the dog, on the scent of a fox, suddenly THERE IT IS! The dog sees the fox and the chase is on.
The fox sees the dog, and in well natured fashion, with such a fright, (getting around the swear filter for a moment) "scatt's itself".
Then the dog smells the scatt and sits, and the fox gets away.

So much for that idea.

[corvus]

Oh what cynicism ,the main thrust of this FFTF is to ensure they don't get a real foothold in TAS with the ensuing further decimation of our wee furries and invertebrates and I personally would rather pay the money than take the risk.

[Nuts]

Corvus, I'm no wizz with statistics,
but by the look of that map perhaps someone can let us know when/at what stage they intend to 'spring into action'?
At least they are honest though....
You must admit that the thought of the dog sitting cause it's tired is funny ....

Are foxes still coming in?..... If so, Why?

[corvus]

Nuts ,I have no experience with the Fox never seen nor heard one in all of my 60 + years I am just worried that they might like Tassie just like Rabbits did.

[slick41st]

I totally agree, a task force against all things introduced, including cats and dogs. But the problems are not only feral.

There are entire industries setup to destroy our native wildlife to feed domestic cats and dogs. Also can you imagine the money wasted saving cats and dogs if it were directed into nature projects, and pest eradication. The whole pet industry needs to be looked at and very selective breeding and handing out of domestic cats and dogs. (I have two dogs and am advocating only ownership by very responsible people, with all animals desexed before supply to minimise the $$ wasted on saving and feeding huge amounts of unwanted animals from overbreeding and no prior selection of owners). Also the huge environmental burden they place on our planet.

slick

[flyfisher]

you wouldn't get any argument from me .

Flyfisher

[corvus]

Not the cat debate again!!!

[flyfisher]

Corvus I don't unduly dislike cats I just think that desexing mightn't be a bad idea.
FF

[walkinTas]

Not the cat debate again!!!

Actually, Cats AND poo again!

I agree with FF. I too am sick of the mess. All cat owners need to do is keep their cats at home, in their own yard, and there wouldn't be a problem.

But big warning: Macquarie Island showed the danger of removing a dominant predator from the environment. And with the decline in devil numbers, what is to stop the same happening in Tassie if you remove Feral Cats. Just a thought!

[corvus]

Don't make your yard Cat friendly you can purchase Pet OFF stuff and or Naphthalene Flakes to deter them ,and if you have the fortitude ask you neighbours to buy it it for you.
As I have stated previously it is not the Animal at fault just the irresponsible keepers .
Can we let this non Bushwalking topic rest now please.

[Son of a Beach]

Yes, please keep on topic and bushwalking related. Discussion of controlling feral animals (and weeds) in the bush is fine, but discussion of how to hurt or harm pets is your garden is getting off topic.

I know that there's a fine line between a feral animal, and a pet with an irresponsible owner, but please remember that some responsible pet owners love our cats and/or dogs, and discussion of causing pets harm is unpleasant.

[walkinTas]

But big warning: Macquarie Island showed the danger of removing a dominant predator from the environment. And with the decline in devil numbers, what is to stop the same happening in Tassie if you remove Feral Cats. Just a thought!

Actually I thought that this comment was pretty much on topic. And the whole point that people have been making is that you can't have a discussion about foxes without including feral cats. Its is ridiculous to spend millions on the eradication of one feral pest and ignore the other.

[Son of a Beach]

But big warning: Macquarie Island showed the danger of removing a dominant predator from the environment. And with the decline in devil numbers, what is to stop the same happening in Tassie if you remove Feral Cats. Just a thought!

Actually I thought that this comment was pretty much on topic. And the whole point that people have been making is that you can't have a discussion about foxes without including feral cats. Its is ridiculous to spend millions on the eradication of one feral pest and ignore the other.

Correct... I was referring to other posts and the general tone that has popped up in this topic a few times.

[Robbo]

Would this be really be a fox? More likely wild dogs I would have thought?

"Rookery raid predator not known for days"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 422348.htm

Tony Robinson