WHAT THE FOX
Introduced pests and wild dogs invade suburbia
A FOX takes shelter beneath the steps of a house at Banora Point in the picture above as the introduced species moves deep into the suburbs. Foxes have also been trapped in the heart of the Gold Coast at Biggera Waters, joining the growing menace of wild dogs. Pest controller Michael Azzopardi said: “I’m getting ten calls a month (just for foxes).”
FOXES are invading the Gold Coast’s fast growing northern suburbs and industrial estates in midnight raids, leaving bloody chicken coops.
Queensland Pest and Feral Animal Management director Michael Azzopardi, an experienced feral animal trapper, located foxes within 300 metres of Harbour Town shopping precinct at Biggera Waters.
The trapping of foxes is causing division between neighbours and outrage on Facebook by some animal lovers who believe the animals are like cute pets.
But Mr Azzopardi is strongly supported by clients who are waking up to find the carcasses of their property’s headless chickens dumped in nearby bushland.
“A lot of people say we don’t have foxes in Australia a and the Gold Coast. We e are catching them all the e time,” Mr Azzopardii said.
Residents from Merrimac north to Ormeau are reporting fox sightings, with the worst infestation of the feral pests in the bushlandd corridors around the busy Pacific Motorway and Smith Street intersection.
Mr Azzopardi suspects the foxes east of the Westfield shopping centre are using underground drains to pass under the Pacific Motorway.
“There’s quite a bit of bushland off Smith Street. We’ve received calls from people in the industrial estates there,” he said.
“They can pass under the motorway. They then make a den in a (bushland) log. They are close to industrial bins.
“I’m getting 10 calls a month (just for foxes). They take the chickens. They don’t eat them, they just rip their heads off.”
An Arundel property owner, who asked not to be named, estimated foxes had killed more than 30 chickens in the past three years.
“They’re extremely good at killing chooks. They duck under the fence, then they just kill them and suck the blood out of them,” the owner said.
“We’ve had video set up. It took two months to catch the fox.”
The surveillance showed the fox would strike at the same time each night, around 11pm when the property lights were turned off.
Ormeau property owner Clive Chappell said most residents were unaware foxes
were responsible for the death of animals on their properties.
“We didn’t know until one morning when all our chooks had disappeared. We found the carcasses in the bush,” Mr Chappell said.
“It was a classic sign of being attacked by a fox. They take their heads off. Michael did a great job setting up surveillance.
“It was a female fox and she was very, very cunning. It took seven or eight weeks to capture her.”
Mr Chappell conceded the decision to employ a specialist to capture the fox had caused debate among neighbours.
“Legally, Michael had an obligation to destroy the fox (because they are a feral pest), although we didn’t like it and a lot of people don’t,” he said.
“But they need to understand the damage they cause. They are not dogs or pets. They look quite cute when they yawn, but until you’re on the receiving end of them you don’t understand.”
They take the chickens. They don’t eat them, they just rip their heads off MICHAEL AZZOPARDI