Management and Control of Populations of Foxes, Deer, Hares, and Mink in England and Wales, and the Impact of Hunting with Dogs
A Report to the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs Management and Control of Populations of Foxes, Deer, Hares, and Mink in England and Wales, and the Impact of Hunting with Dogs Macdonald, D.W.1, Tattersall, F.H.1, Johnson, P.J.1, Carbone, C.1, Reynolds, J. C.2, Langbein, J.3, Rushton, S. P.4 and Shirley, M.D.F.4 1Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Dept. of Zoology, South Parks Rd., Oxford, OX1 3PS; 2The Game Conservancy Trust, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, SP6 1EF; 3Wildlife Research Consultant, “Greenleas”, Chapel Cleeve, Minehead, Somerset TA24 6HY; 4Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Porter Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU Management and Control of the Population of Foxes, Deer, Hares and Mink, Macdonald et al: and the Impact of Hunting with Dogs Executive Summary 1. Why seek to control populations of foxes, deer, hares, and mink in England and Wales? · A number of interest groups seek to control populations of foxes, deer, hares and mink for various, and often for several, reasons, summarised in Chapter 2. These reasons should be considered in the context of: ¨ An often ambivalent attitude to the species and its control. ¨ The general lack of a simple relationship between damage and abundance. ¨ Differences between perceived and actual damage sustained. · Foxes are widely controlled because they are perceived to kill livestock (lambs, poultry and piglets), game (including hares) and other ground-nesting birds. ¨ Fox predation on livestock is usually low level, but widespread and sometimes locally significant. Evidence is strong that fox predation has a significant impact on wild game populations, but less so for other ground-nesting birds.
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