The Essex Wildlife Trust owns almost 8,000 acres of land in 93 nature preserves in Great Britain. A few years ago, the Trust banned all hunting on land it owns, but got more than it bargained for in the process.
On the 600-acre Tollesbury Wick reserve, the past few years have scene the fox population increase dramatically with an attendant decline in the population of ground-nesting lapwings. Five years ago there were only 4-5 foxes on the reserve, whereas today there are about 20. While there were 38 pairs of ground-nesting lapwings five years ago, today there are only three. There have also been increases in fox attacks on other animals in the reserve.
The solution to deal with the problem? Hunting, of course. The Trust hired sharpshooters to cull the foxes, resulting in predictable outrage among animal rights activists in Great Britain.
Graham Game, the Trust’s development manager, told The Daily Telegraph,
We are getting the worst of both worldsWe are getting lots of flak for deciding to cull the foxes, but it looks as if not a single predator will have been shot. He said the decision to kill the foxes was only taken after much heart-searching and research. We have now reached the situation where these predators are making the future of endangered species unsustainable.
Of course the animal rights activists aren’t buying that argument at all. “When we tell them that we have seen foxes killing lambs and ground-nesting birds,” Game said, “they simply do not accept it.”
Do these activists think that foxes are herbivores?
Source:
Hunting ban trust faces protests over fox cull. David Sapsted, The Daily Telegraph, February 22, 2002.