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European Red Fox

Vulpes vulpes

Fox photo 1 Red foxes are often seen along roadsides, in bushland reserves, around farm buildings and livestock enclosures throughout the Central Coast. The attractive and gentle looking nature of the Red Fox is in stark contrast to the devastating impacts Red Foxes have on native fauna through constant predation.

The Red Fox was introduced into Australia in the 1860’s in Victoria for sporting enthusiasts as a quarry for hunt clubs. The Red Fox quickly spread throughout mainland Australian, closely following the pattern of rabbit infestations. The fox has recently spread to Tasmania.

The fox is relatively common throughout the Central Coast area as there is an abundance of food sources throughout urban semi-rural and rural areas. Foxes do not have any specialised food requirements and can be equally adapted to being opportunistic predators or scavengers.

Key threatening Process

Key threatening processes are the things that threaten - or could threaten - the survival or evolutionary development of species, populations or ecological communities. Predation by the European Red Fox is identified as a Key Threatening Process under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995.

Description

Foxes are omnivores and mostly prey on ground feeding and nesting birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and domestic pets, they also eat berries and fruit and scavenge road kill.
The Red Fox is a highly adaptable breeder and forms breeding pairs of small family groups depending on the habitat and availability of food resources. The mature Red Fox has a body 610 to 740mm long with a tail between 360 and 450mm. It stands 350mm tall and weighs 4 to 8 kilograms.
Red Fox communicate with a highly pitched yapping yelp sound which is regularly heard in semi-rural areas.
Breeding occurs between July to October with between 4 to 10 cubs in a litter. Juvenile mortality is relatively low and depends on food availability and predation of young pups by eagles, dingoes, snakes and goannas.
Red Fox territory size averages between 2 to 5 square kilometers for a family group.¹
Dispersing juvenile male Red Foxes might travel more than 8km per night with no set path of travel.
Foxes are a major carrier of diseases and parasites, including mange, hepatitis, distemper and hydatid worms.
The spread of foxes across southern Australia coincides with the decline in the distribution of a variety of small to medium sized ground-dwelling mammals.

Impacts of Threat:

Foxes pose a serious threat to native species and several native species are potentially at risk of becoming threatened as a result of predation by foxes, particularly ground-dwelling birds such as Lyrebirds & Bush-stone Curlews and small native mammals such as Antechinus, Bush Rats and Bandicoots.²Threatened Species occurring on the Central Coast which are predated by the European Red Fox are:

Little Tern (nesting on beaches)
Australasian Bittern
Bush-stone Curlew
Pied Oystercatcher
Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
Long-nosed Bandicoot
Eastern Pygmy Possum
Squirrel Glider Spotted-tailed Quoll
Eastern Chestnut Mouse
Koala
Yellow-bellied Glider

The impact of foxes on native species is exacerbated by habitat modification and fragmentation caused as a result of land clearing and development.³
Foxes cause economic loss to agricultural enterprises, particularly poultry farms on the Central Coast.¹
Many fauna re-introduction programs on the mainland have failed due to predation by foxes. In areas where fox control is established the programs have proved more successful.³

The Local Problem

Foxes thrive on the Central Coast due to the availability of suitable denning sites in bushland and fringe rural areas and variety of feed sources in urban and semi-rural areas.
As well as native animals, foxes prey on domestic and agricultural animals such as chickens, ducks and rabbits, sheep, poultry and goats as well as most native animals.

Management Issues

Gosford City Council have prepared and implemented a Fox Management Strategy that covers Wyong and Gosford Local Government Areas in response to local concerns on fox numbers and their resultant ecological impacts.¹ This includes baiting and trapping on private and public land, in accordance with Rural Lands Protection Board permits and procedures.⁴
Control of feral rabbits, a major source of prey for foxes.

Community Actions

Record and monitor fox sightings and fox attacks in your local area and inform your local council.⁴
Improve domestic animal pens and cages to prevent fox predation and thereby reduce food availability for foxes.
Remove materials in areas which are commonly used by foxes for den sites (e.g. Blackberry thickets, wood piles, rubbish heaps, etc).

Useful Web links

NSW Agriculture, Urban Foxes, Ag Note, www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/pub-series/pub-agnotes.htm
Warringah Council, Sydney-North Regional Fox Control Program: Conserving Sydney’s Green Web, www.warringahnsw.gov.au/urban-fox-paper.htm

Bibliography:

Strahan. R. (Ed) 1995. The Mammals of Australia. The Australia Museum / Reed Books Sydney.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (2001), Threat Abatement Plan for Predation By the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (1997), Final Determination: Predation by European Red Fox Vulpes vulpes as a Key Threatening Process, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
Gosford City Council (2005), Central Coast Fox Management Strategy, Gosford City Council, Gosford, NSW.

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Gosford City Council