Three years since the Menangle fox control campaign first launched, the program has evolved and expanded to include the Cobbitty and Wedderburn areas with coordinated campaigns set to kick off in spring.
An initiative of Greater Sydney Local Land Services, the Barragal Landcare Group and local landholders, the three campaigns will include a series of interactive workshops as well as ongoing proactive control on private and public land.
Community pest coordinator and Campbelltown resident Brendon Levot is heavily involved in the initiative and said the only way to loosen the stronghold of vertebrate pests such as foxes in the local area was through a coordinated approach from landholders, agencies and community members.
“Pest animal management is a shared responsibility; this idea that it is just a government issue or someone else’s problem is wrong, we must all do our bit,” he said.
Mr Levot has worked in conservation land management throughout the Macarthur area for 15 years and said he had seen firsthand the devastating impact foxes and other pests can have.
“I was working to save a wombat population on a large property in Cobbitty which were infected with mange we believe as a direct result of foxes – many people don’t realise they can carry serious diseases and spread infections into domestic pets and native wildlife,” he said.
Mr Levot said foxes were becoming more brazen with many appearing in the new housing developments in the area.
“One local resident had a couple of foxes try and steal her takeaway dinner out of her hands right outside her front door, another one reported foxes in their front yard looking for food and this is on a 350 square metre block,” he said.
“Feeding foxes will encourage them to keep returning to the area.
“It’s important that any potential food sources for foxes be properly disposed of to discourage their presence in urban areas, particularly around valued domestic pets and small children.”
Project coordinator Dr Alison Towerton said a series of public workshops detailing the upcoming spring campaign would kick off in Menangle next Wednesday.
“People can come along and hear about the results of fox control and monitoring to date, control options available to them and see demonstrations of the safe use of canid pest ejectors and other tools,” she said,
The fox control campaign workshops will be held in Menangle on August 21, Cobbitty on August 26 and Wedderburn on August 28.
Full details are available on the Greater Sydney Local Land Services website or contact Dr Towerton on 0457 511 715 or email menangle.fox@gmail.com for more information.
