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Hunting ban had no effect on fox numbers

September 01, 2002

The Mammal Society tomorrow (5 September) publishes the results of its study into the impact of hunting on fox numbers in Nature, the premier scientific journal in the world. The study shows that the ban on fox hunting during the foot and mouth outbreak had no effect on the number of foxes in Britain.

Chairman of The Mammal Society, the only organisation solely dedicated to the study and conservation of all British mammals, Professor Stephen Harris said "The Mammal Society's study is the first scientific study into the impact of hunting on fox numbers, and it shows quite clearly that hunting plays no role in regulating fox numbers. In fact these results add weight to the argument that foxes regulate their own numbers and that all forms of fox culling are less important than hitherto believed."

He continued "During the foot-and-mouth epidemic hunting was banned and other forms of fox control were curtailed to varying extents. Yet despite the ban on hunting and restrictions on a variety of rural activities for nearly a year, fox numbers did not increase or decrease. In fact actual numbers declined slightly, although the decline was not statistically significant."

This study provides the only quantified data on the impact of the ban on hunting on fox numbers and refutes claims from a number of lobby groups that fox numbers increased significantly during FMD. It also lends support to Lord Burns, Chairman of the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs in England & Wales, who concluded that a permanent ban on hunting is unlikely to result in an increase in fox abundance.

For The Mammal Society`s study 160 randomly selected 1-kilometre squares throughout Britain were surveyed by volunteers and paid staff between February 1 and March 17 in the two winters immediately preceding FMD (1999 and 2000). The FMD outbreak started in February 2001 and hunting was banned for ten months and severely curtailed for another two months. Each square was resurveyed between February 1 and March 17 2002 as soon FMD was over.

Counts of fresh scats (faeces) were used to compare fox densities immediately before and immediately after the ban on hunting. Volunteers and staff had to visit each square twice during the six-week survey period. The first visit was to select their survey route (they walked along linear features such as hedgerows, field edges, riverbanks, etc, since foxes travel along these in the winter) and remove all the old fox scats. On the second visit they counted all the new fox scats so that we could calculate fox density. This was a massive effort - the survey route in each square was on average 6.9 kilometres long, and by the end of the project volunteers and staff had walked 4416 kilometres counting fox faeces as they went! This is equivalent to walking from Land`s End to John o`Groats more than three times. What`s more, it had to be done slowly and looking at the ground all the way!

The results were analysed for the country as a whole and regionally; in seven regions there was no change in fox numbers, in Eastern England fox numbers increased, in Southern England they declined. Overall scat density declined by 4.7%, although this was not statistically significant. A number of tests were done to quantify the impact of hunts on fox numbers. There was no difference in fox population changes between those 1-kilometre squares that lay in areas where fox hunts operate and those outside areas that were hunted. Hunting pressure also varied between the nine regions, but there was no relationship between the intensity of hunting in each region and the fox population changes in that region.

The Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, Minister for Rural Affairs, is holding a series of Public Hearings on Hunting with Dogs next week (September 9 to 11) and these exciting new results will be included at these sessions.

The Mammal Society is currently undertaking a variety of other mammal monitoring projects and is seeking volunteers to help with these projects. To take part please phone The Mammal Society on 020 7498 4358 or e-mail enquiries@mammal.org.uk.

Mammal Society, The