Because red foxes have caused considerable damage on fauna where they’ve been introduced, such as in Australia, they are being controlled with sodium fluoroacetate baits.
In the 17th century, the European red fox subspecies was introduced in Canada and the eastern United States (where they were relatively scarce and the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) was common) for fox hunting. There appears to be limited evidence for any meaningful mixing of introduced European foxes and those in North America and no Eurasian haplotypes have been found in foxes sampled.
The species was also introduced to Australia in the 1800’s and to Tasmania in the late 1990’s, although there is evidence that an eradication campaign for red foxes on Tasmania has proved effective. Elsewhere, the red fox has been introduced to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and to the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom, although they never properly established on the Isle of Man and may subsequently have disappeared.
Red foxes have caused considerable damage where they have been introduced. Their impacts on Australian fauna has been particularly well documented and control takes place by setting baits impregnated with 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate).
• Image | © Minette Layne, Some Rights Reserved, (CC BY-NC 2.0)
• Sources | (Caley, Ramsey, & Barry, 2015; Fox, 2007; Hoffmann & Sillero-Zubiri, 2016; MacDonald & Reynolds, 2005; Reynolds & Short, 2003; Statham, Sacks, Aubry, Perrine, & Wisely, 2012)
