Helen Dalton, Member for Murray, has taken to social media to ask the question: Is it time for a bounty on foxes?
The MP states that it took just 60 years for red foxes to colonise Australia after they were introduced for the” noble” sport of fox hunting, and that European red foxes and domestic cats brought to Australia kill about 300 million native animals and livestock in Australia every year and remain the major driver of past and current extinctions.
Australia’s fox population is about 1.7 million, and the Invasive Species Council estimates as many as 16 mammal species have become extinct mainly or partly because of foxes.
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This is about 40% of total extinctions since European arrival.
