Outfoxing pests now on CWA’s agenda

CWA State president Tanya Cameron said a motion carried at this year’s conference for foxes to be classified as feral pests in NSW would bring NSW into line with how the animal is viewed in other States.

Currently foxes are classified as a “nuisance animal” in NSW, rather than a pest, and it is legal to own them as pets.

“We would like to see a ruling that European red foxes cannot be bred or rescued for being kept in a domestic environment,” Mrs Cameron said.

The leading women’s organisation will write letters to the relevant authorities and will also meet this month to further discuss whether they will take any further actions Fox Rescue is an organisation

in NSW which calls for foxes to be desexed, vaccinated and used as pets, rather than being killed.

The organisation did not answer calls from The Land, but in a statement on its website said “we are not ignorant to what red foxes do to native Australian wildlife”.

“However, foxes do what they have to survive like every other animal,” the statement said.

“People view them as pests because they kill livestock and natives, but hating something because it is trying to survive is not justifiable.

“If others want to shoot and trap them, fair enough so long as it is done humanely. “

According to Meat and Livestock Australia, European red foxes are estimated to cost Australian farmers more than $35 million annually.

– RODERICK MAKIM