Fox population increasing at Tower Hill State Game Reserve, Parks Victoria says

Area chief manager Michael Smith said Parks Victoria carried out humane fox and rabbit baiting programs at the reserve to protect small mammals and other wildlife.

"Parks Victoria is actively monitoring an increase of European red foxes at visitor sites within the reserve," he said.

Mr Smith said the foxes preyed on native fauna, snakes, birds and mammals and were responsible for dispersing weeds.

In Victoria, the foxes were declared as established pest animals under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994.

Under this act, land managers were responsible for taking all reasonable steps to prevent the spread of, and as far as possible eradicate established pest animals from their land.

Mr Smith said foxes also caused significant agricultural and economic harm by preying on farm livestock, while also posing a health risk to humans and pets by transmitting diseases.

"We ask that visitors pick up all food scraps and refrain from feeding wild animals to prevent these opportunistic feeders from becoming habituated to their presence," he said.

Parks Victoria undertakes fox control programs at "priority parks" by doing large-scale poison baiting, exclusion fencing, rubber-padded leghold traps, shooting and den fumigation.

Warning signs are posted on all public entry points to baited areas, which are checked and replaced regularly.

Every six months Parks Victoria sends out letters to remind adjoining landholders of the baiting.

The fox baiting programs at Tower Hill are suspended during the duck hunting season, which runs from April 26 to May 30, to reduce the risk to dogs used for duck retrieval.

Elsewhere in the Moyne shire, foxes were believed to be responsible for the deaths of about 100 shearwaters at Port Fairy.

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