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Foxes outfoxed
for fox bounty
The fox bounty being offered to landowners by the Department of Primary Industries has received a strong response with 10,000 fox scalps collected in 11 weeks.
Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Walsh welcomed the success of the program.
“The overwhelming response of more than 10,000 scalps in such a short time shows just how much farmers needed this bounty as a long-term control measure for wild dogs and foxes,” Mr Walsh said.
He said the new bounty had quickly surpassed the FoxStop program, which only claimed about 6,000 foxes per year.
He said with the bounty set at $10 per fox and $50 per wild dog, more than $100,000 had flowed into hunters’ pockets already.
“Collections resumed on Monday and I expect to see large numbers of fox scalps delivered to Department of Primary Industries sites over the next few weeks,” Mr Walsh said.
He said Hunters needed to submit an entire fox scalp, including both ears and the skin surrounding the eyes and nose in an air-dried, fresh or frozen condition to collect the reward.
Regional MP, Terry Mulder said there had been a noticeable increase in spotlighting activity across the south west since the introduction of the fox bounty.
“Most farmers agree that the bounty is effective at reducing fox numbers and have welcomed the Victorian Government’s introduction of the scheme,” Mr Mulder said.
“There are lots of foxes around but some shooters have reported a reduction compared with the same time last year, which is being attributed to the bounty.”
Edition 248, 25 January 2012
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