Foxes in Scotland for Maria

[Nigel]

Hi All,

Maria nothing personal,


You have informed me on this board you once lived in Scotland on a farm and no fox control took place. Occasionally the odd fox would scavenge a dead lamb’s carcass. Did you ever hear of the Eriboll study much publicised by the League before the Burns Inquiry (Where is it now?) The study was conducted in Scotland and no fox control took place for a period of time and from memory no lamb losses occurred on a particular farm/estate. You can see why they were more than happy to broadcast this information.

What happened to the much vaunted Eriboll study?

Well at the Burns inquiry I think it was Prof David Macdonald got up said similar to “NEIGHBOURING FARMS TO ERIBOLL WERE CONTROLLING FOXES”, this does suggests why no predation is taking place.

So the question is Maria can you honestly say hand on heart when you lived in Scotland no neighbouring farms were controlling foxes?

Cheers

Nigel

 

[Fairynuff]

Nigel, is your post aimed at me? If it is I know nothing about reports of any kind and to be honest dont really have much faith in them.Its easy to write what people want to read-each coin has two sides. My relatives (hill sheep farmers) have always dealt with foxes without the hunt. There is a healthy fox population at present on their land which covers hundreds of acres.There are no snares around and they are not gun happy-they go off quietly and shoot what has to be culled.They (as Ive said before) have lost more lambs to weather conditions than to predators.Stray dogs cause more problems but are shot on sight, this includes any sheep dog who starts messing around with the flock. I really believe that the fox has become a scape goat to serve the sporting needs of a minority. Mairi.

 

[Hercules]

''They (as Ive said before) have lost more lambs to weather conditions than to predators.'

As will all farmers in upland areas. Does that mean that death by predators s more acceptable? You can't control the weather, you can control predation.

''I really believe that the fox has become a scape goat to serve the sporting needs of a minority.''

Reality comes second place to sentiment with you, doesn't it?

 

[valentine]

i totally agree with your comments !!!! best to have a farmer who can control his land than a lot of prats in red coats chasing something to its death!!!

 

[Clodagh]

Do you think the red coats scare the fox? Or on the whole does what we are wearing make little difference?
My OH - a terrierman - definately doesn't own a red coat, but a wide assortment of mud splattered camo things that stink!!

 

[Fairynuff]

Reality is something I like to hang on to.
The Campsie Hill foxes live the life of Reilly scavanging dead lambs and dont really have the need to take many live lambs. Who can say for sure that they do take live healthy lambs. By the time the lamb has gone-was it already dead due to illness etc or was it healthy before the fox killed it?????????
In Abruzzo there is a large sheep population and a pack or two of wolves.The farmers shot the wolves on sight convinced that it was them that were killing sheep. In fact it wasnt the wolves! Night cameras were set up and guilty filmed on more than one occasion while at it.It was a pack of stray dogs . M.