Burnie Road-kill Enlivens Debate On Tasmania And Foxes

The Age

Friday October 17, 2003

Andrew Darby

Hobart

A young female fox has been found dead by the side of the road in Burnie - but an end to the argument of whether Tasmania has foxes is no nearer.

Until four years ago, there was wide agreement that the island was free of the fox - a predator that has wreaked havoc on the mainland. That came to an end in 1999, when one leapt out of a shipping container on the Burnie dock - about 100 metres from where yesterday's dead fox was found.

No one knew in 1999 if the container fox had a partner. In 2001 the remains of a young male were found at Symmons Plains in the midlands.

The State Government responded with a $1.6 million taskforce, laying baits and monitoring results. Despite 650 reported sightings, the taskforce has failed to turn up evidence of a single fox, and last month there was speculation it would be wound up.

But it seems a motorist achieved yesterday what the taskforce could not. The vixen was found, apparently freshly killed by a car, beside the main highway in Burnie.

Those who deny the presence of the fox argue that this fox is like the 1999 one - an isolated stowaway on a boat from Melbourne's Webb Dock, where foxes are known to live. But if you believe the fox is in Tasmania, there's no better proof than a corpse.

Environment Minister Bryan Green said yesterday's discovery marked a sad day for the state. ``I've always believed as a result of evidence in the past that foxes are in Tasmania," Mr Green said. ``But the fact that I've stood and looked at a fox in Burnie is a bad time all round, to be honest with you."

Taskforce officers, wary of hoaxers, said the Burnie fox was found with blood flowing from its mouth. Mr Green, a recreational hunter, said it was between one and two years old.

Mr Green said foxes at Webb Dock had been DNA tested - so the dead female fox can potentially be verified as a stowaway.

Taskforce head Chris Emms said the only confirmed fox scat was collected in Burnie and 13 other ``highly likely" scats had been found around the state.

© 2003 The Age

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