Does Tasmania have a feral fox population, or is the State Government simply crying wolf? The debate around Tasmania’s fox status has been reignited following the apparent discovery of fox blood in a chicken coop south of Hobart.

A spokesperson from the Fox Taskforce confirmed that the site had been monitored for some time following the mauling of several chickens, but was at a loss to explain why a myriad of high tech equipment had failed to record a trace of the elusive creature.

Fox sceptics have also raised concerns about the incident at Old Beach, claiming that testing of bite marks on any dead birds from earlier attacks would not conclusively point to a fox.

An established fox population could have a devastating impact on Tasmania’s native wildlife.

A retired professional fox-hunter, now living in Tasmania, and speaking on the condition of anonymity, believes that Tasmania is essentially fox free and that carcases found around Tasmania were planted as part of an elaborate hoax.

‘’The only confirmed fox found in Tasmania ran off a container ship at Burnie in 1998, and you need more than one to have a sustainable population.”

‘’The pro-fox lobby will point to carcasses found at Symmons Plains, Lillico, Burnie and Longford but all of these are of a dubious background.”

A Northern Tasmanian farmer claimed to have shot the Longford fox on his property and subsequent DNA testing showed it to be a sibling of a dead fox found at Symmons Plains.

‘’The only problem is that the farmer has since admitted to friends that he actually shot the animal near Geelong in Victoria and smuggled it back here in the hope of claiming a reward in Tasmania.”

‘’What does this say about the sibling animal? And as for these scats the taskforce keep finding, anyone could bring those into Tasmania.”

On 15 June this year the Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries, David Llewellyn, told the parliament that the two foxes were related. He added that three litters of fox cubs had been smuggled into Tasmania and distributed – although Tasmania Police advised the government in July 2001 that there was no evidence of the organised importation or distribution of foxes into Tasmania – and that this was a primary reason for the continuation of a baiting program.

But the extensive bait laying program is yet to yield any definitive evidence of fox activity.

To further complicate matters, the independent DNA testing undertaken by CRC Invasive Animals has been called into question following the revelation that two of its subsidiaries have the contract to supply Tasmania with poison fox bait.