Search

In 2015 Jade Montserrat and Caitlin and Anj Webb-Ellis collaborated on a series of "performance to camera" videos investigating landscapes of the North Yorkshire rural estate on which Montserrat grew up. In Cage Montserrat crouches naked within a fox trap in a dense wood. This piece situates Montserrat within the political ecology of the estate and explores her experiences of entrapment within the frames of whiteness, patriarchy, and imperial history, but that the artists' process for creation and presentation of the work aimed to exceed and start to heal those experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerdocyon thous is widely distributed in South America and occurs throughout most of Brazil. However, little is known of its ecology in the semi-arid Caatinga biome, and this study aimed to characterise the ecological niche of the species in Sergipe, in the northeastern extreme of the country. The study was conducted over a period of 13 months, at the Grota do Angico Natural Monument (2138 ha), with monthly campaigns of 6 days in arboreal-shrubby caatinga, riparian forest, and grota (humid gallery forest). Sand plots and camera traps were used to collect records of the species, and faecal samples were collected whenever found during the monitoring of the plots. A total of 407 records of C. thous were obtained, with 308 in the plots and 99 in the traps. The species occurred throughout the entire study area, with no significant variation being found in the use of habitat (p=0.1123). The monthly records were not randomly distributed (p=0.009), being concentrated between November and June, although no clear seasonal pattern was identified (p=0.383). The diet was classified as omnivorous, with a predominance of arthropods and fruit. Activity was primarily nocturnal, with no records being collected between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cage-trapping is one of the control methods frequently used by hunters to remove red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes) in Spain, although its low efficiency and selectivity have been frequently reported. We tested the effect of the combinations of two bait types (live/ dead) and two scent attractants (fox urine/valerian extract) in order to improve the efficiency and selectivity of cage traps in central Spain. The combination of live bait and fox urine increased the efficiency of cage traps to capture red foxes in comparison with live bait alone. None of the experimental treatments led to a significant reduction in the capture rate of non-target species, selectivity levels were always low (0%-21%) and non-target species were captured. In view of that, the burden of releasing captured non-target animals depends ultimately on the trapper. For this reason, the use of cage traps is still questionable for managing foxes in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predation on native vertebrates and livestock by the European Red Fox ( Vulpes vulpes) remains a significant problem in many parts of Australia. Coordinated approaches to fox control are most effective in protecting these assets and involve placement of baits across the landscape by private and public land managers. However, participation in such programmes varies seasonally and the spatial coverage of baiting is often difficult to determine. Here, we describe a geographic information systems-based system that assists land managers to collect and use spatial information, minimizing gaps in bait coverage and maximizing bait encounters by foxes to increase the effectiveness of pest control. The coordination of data collection and reporting between land managers should facilitate more effective adaptive management by allowing better strategic planning and increasing landholder involvement, which should, in turn, improve the programme's efficacy, provided other critical conditions and resources are met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swift foxes (Vulpes velox) once occupied ca. 79 counties in Texas, but surveys in 1997-1998 indicated the range of the species was reduced to two counties. We used scat-transects and live-trapping during 2005-2007 to assess current distribution of the species in Texas. Our results indicated that distribution of the swift fox in Texas remains significantly reduced from the historical distribution and that population densities are low where the species currently exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing animals is an essential tool of wildlife management, but the use of capture devices is being affected by public pressures on an international scale. In Europe, and particularly Spain, foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are often captured using traditional methods such as nonlocking Spanish Snares (SS) set in an ad hoc fence line known as an alar, but these traditional European methods are rarely compared to modernly described restraints such as the Wisconsin Cable Restraint (WR). We evaluated rates of efficiency, selectivity, injury, and impacts to foxes and nontarget species when using SS (as traditionally set in an alar) or WR within alars or on trails in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. During 40,372 trap-nights from summer to winter of 2007, we captured 64 foxes, and 8 of 23 potential nontarget species. Our results indicated that WR set in trails were more efficient (0.28 capture rate) for capturing red foxes than SS set in an alar (0.11 capture rate). Relative to injury, foxes captured with the WR in the alar (95.4%), and WR in trails (90.5%), and the SS (90.9%) showed no indicators of poor welfare, and injury score analysis indicated that injuries were of similar magnitude for all capture devices. Overall, the WR set in trails may have performed the best, but all 3 methods are likely sufficient for capturing foxes with minimal injury, acceptable efficiency, and acceptable impact to foxes and sympatric nontarget species. Thus, wildlife managers in Spain and elsewhere can apply our findings to optimize capture and management of foxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Farmed blue foxes are willing to work to gain access to a sand floor from a wire mesh floor. It is not clear whether the foxes work for the sand floor because of its solidity or because it enables them to perform certain behaviours, e.g. exploration and digging. Here, we measured blue foxes’ motivation to gain access from a wire mesh floor to a floor with 15–30cm deep sand, a floor with 3–4cm deep sand, a solid concrete floor, and another wire mesh floor. In addition, we analysed the foxes’ behaviour on these floor materials. Seven male blue foxes were trained and tested in self-constructed operant apparatuses. In an apparatus, the fox could move a bottomless test cage from a wire mesh floor to a neighbouring, alternative floor material for a 4-min visit by pressing a lever in the test cage for a fixed number of times (Fixed Ratio, FR). The foxes worked for each floor material for 12 days. In each daily test session, the foxes were exposed to work on one of the four workloads (FR 6, 12, 24, 48), for 3h. The behaviour of the foxes was analysed during the 4-min visits on each floor material. The results showed that there was no difference between the floor materials, either in the demand elasticity of the fragment of the demand curve (ranging from −0.46 to −0.33), or in the intensity of the demand. However, the foxes’ behaviour varied between the floor materials. More digging, play, rooting (exploration with the muzzle), and vole jumping were observed on the floor materials with sand, than on the concrete floor and the wire mesh floor. Both the presence and the depth of the sand layer stimulated these behaviours. It is concluded that juvenile blue foxes do not value solid floor materials more than a wire mesh floor. However, the sand floor stimulates more digging, play, vole jumping, and exploration than the concrete floor or wire mesh floor. Furthermore, the depth of sand may be an important factor in eliciting these behaviours. Access to a floor material with sand may improve the welfare of farmed blue foxes by providing the possibility to perform species-specific behaviours. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The populations of several native medium-sized mammals have increased in abundance in response to an extensive fox control program in southwestern Australia. In particular, the woylie (Bettongia penicillata), established sufficient densities in some forest areas between 1996 and 2005, that they saturated the traps used in several long-term monitoring studies. As a consequence, less abundant and/or less readily caught species were likely to be excluded from traps and may have been inadequately represented in surveys. In a series of comparative trials within several Western Australian native jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forests, this study tested an alternative lure for cage-traps that could be used in the presence of abundant woylies to improve capture rates of chuditch, Dasyurus geoffroii, and possibly other native vertebrates. Compared with 'universal bait' (peanut butter and oat-based), the 'chuditch bait' (meat meal and fish oil-based) increased chuditch capture rates up to 800% by reducing woylie capture rates by about 50% or more: the species diversity and capture rates of several other vertebrates were also greater. Other associated trapping techniques to improve chuditch survey efficiency are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We documented the physiological responses of captive-raised red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) to capture in box traps. The behavior of captured foxes was video recorded, and heart rate and body temperature were monitored via radio telemetry throughout an 8-hour restraint period. Endocrine, biochemical hematological, and pathological samples were collected. The gross and histopathological findings for foxes caught in box and foothold traps were generally similar. We conclude the factors associated with climb restraint directly contribute to trauma experienced by trapped red foxes and, therefore, foxes caught in box traps undergo less trauma than foxes that are restrained by a limb in a padded- or unpadded-jaw foothold trap.

Summary Historically, shooting has been a popular method for controlling foxes in Australia, but past research has shown it to be an ineffective method for significantly reducing fox population numbers. These past studies investigated shooting when conducted in isolated, one-off programmes. In more recent years large, coordinated group fox management programmes has become popular in both agricultural and conservation areas. These landscape scale programmes give more chance of long-term respite from predation damage by slowing down the immigration rates of foxes into the culled area. Studies have been conducted investigating the effectiveness of large-scale group fox management programmes that primarily used 1080 baiting as the method of control to protect vulnerable livestock and small animal. This study investigated the potential of a large-scale group programme that used shooting as the main form of control to reduce the impact of fox predation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the capture of the last Channel Island Fox roaming free on San Miguel Island by a special trapping crew brought in by U. S. National Park Service biologists. Number of foxes that reside on San Miguel Island in 1995; Remark from park biologist Tim Coonan on catching the female fox; Technique used by the park service to help save the foxes; Problems brought by the feral pigs in Santa Cruz, California.