14 DAY TRIAL // A great menace has emerged for the Tasmanian devil (photo upper center), the last big marsupial carnivorous species. Recently, red foxes (in photo, eating a native possum) have managed somehow to cross the Bass Strait from Australia. This is going to provoke an ecological catastrophe comparable with what happened when dingo, a bewildered dog, entered Australia.
Big marsupial carnivorous, like the Tasmanian devil and thylacine (marsupial wolf) - not to mention a whole array of marsupial species - were gone extinct from the main continent and survived only on the remote island of Tasmania. White settlement of Tasmania in XIXth century wiped out the thylacine, seen as a livestock predator, and the devil hardly survived. But this time it could be too much for the emblematic "little devil".
Not only this species, but also eastern barred bandicoots (photo center), Tasmanian bettongs (photo lower center), eastern quolls (photo bellow) and others could vanish. Tasmanian authorities already launched a ten year, $43 million dollars US, to get rid off the intruder. Scores of volunteers will be enlisted to join a "great poo hunt" in an eradication program never previously attempted anywhere in the world.
Foxes were brought to the continental Australia from England in 1871 for recreational hunting, but quickly went feral and became a scourge for the local marsupial fauna, being damned for many species extinctions, alongside with bewildered cats, not to mention economical effects, as foxes attack lambs, in an economy based of sheep and cattle breeding.
The 125 miles (over 200 km) of sea water between Australia and Tasmania were believed insurmountable to the fox, and indeed, for more than a century, Tasmania stayed away from the fox's reach. But earlier this year, fox breeding populations were confirmed in Tasmania. A well established fox population can inflict massive damage to Tasmanian ecology, agriculture, ecotourism and market image. The groups of volunteers will conduct regular hunts for droppings to count and monitor fox populations. Results will direct efforts for a strategic 1080 baiting, poisoning and other eradication programs.
Biologists estimate the number of Tasmanian foxes from 40 to even several hundreds. In a well established population, each female could produce up to nine cubs annually. "The chances of getting rid of foxes in a state this big once they've got a foothold are unknown" said native wildlife expert Nick Mooney. "Tasmania is the biggest island to ever attempt to wipe out foxes."
"We're trying to do something that hasn't been done in history."
First foxes were reported in Tasmania in 1864, when few foxes from Australia were released and killed during a hunt at Oatlands. In 1998, a fox was seen escaping off a container ship in the Tasmanian port of Burnie.
Scientists conceded their existence only in 2001 when the first carcass was found at Symmons Plains near Launceston. Few reports of live foxes have been registered, but dead foxes hit by vehicles have been found on roads in the Tasmanian interior.
Scientists think that the species may have lived in Tasmania for decades without being spotted. The decrease in numbers of the Tasmanian devil and the banning of the use of poison for animal pests may have led to explosive growth in the fox population.
The success of the eradication program would depend on the determination of the volunteers. "The chances of getting rid of foxes will be very strongly related to the motivation of the Tasmanian community," said Mooney.
