Fox Baiting

Our State Governments Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) has notified us that they will be undertaking a baiting program using 1080 baits on properties that adjoin ours. I am not very happy about this.

Looking into the information provided, and using Google Earth to find the properties, it seems that our property is adjoining one of the 10 sites being targeted.

1080 poisoning is a horrible way of killing an animal, and it is (IMHO) indiscriminate. All of the information from the letter tells me that it is all very safe and that there is very little chance that one of our animals will be poisoned … but … a native, non-targeted carnivore or scavenger (Quolls, Devils, Native Rats, Bandicoots, etc.) takes the bait. It takes a while before the animal dies from the poison and they tend to die hours after they’ve take the bait. Should the animal come onto my property and die, it is there to poison our animals (most likely, our dogs).

Our chickens have been free-ranging on our property for the last couple of years and we have never had to worry about foxes, and we have never lost a chicken to a fox. The nearest evidence to our property of fox activity (scat) is quite a long way away in Campania (about 22km in a direct line, but a fox would have to be a good salt water swimmer to take a direct line).

I believe that the likelihood of foxes in my area in this 14-28 day period of baiting is worth the risk to native scavengers or to my animals. I’ll be honest … I am more interested in my animals, but that is more a question of investment.

The letter from DPIPWE does not give me any choice, just “here we are, we are doing it and if you don’t like it … tough”. I think it stinks.