The Fox Appeal

Foxes

If we want to safeguard the benefits of good habitat and winter food, predation control can have an important role. Thanks to the help of our supporters, we have designed, tested and proven the effectiveness of practical tools such as the mink raft and breakaway fox snare, which are now commonplace in the British countryside.

As our research develops, so do the tools used to manage the countryside. Will you please donate today to help us improve how fox control is used?

New technology, new research, new ideas - better results

We have been unravelling the lives and daily activity of foxes since 1985. Much of what is now known about foxes in the British countryside, especially how we manage them, is the result of our work. Our programme of work continues to help answer difficult questions. By using tracking collars, we can see how foxes use the landscape and take our, and your, understanding of foxes to the next level. This work requires patience and skill. Fitting foxes with tracking collars is difficult and expensive, but it is worth the effort.

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The scientific papers we have published in the past 35 years have been pivotal in framing the debate about fox management. Other conservation organisations, such as the RSPB, now recognise that actively managing predators can bring about a faster response and sustain birds at a higher level than without it.

With environment policy up for debate after Brexit, now is the time to show the importance of good management.

With your support, we can improve best practice and try to answer difficult questions such as:

  • To what extent are fox numbers in one area supressed by lethal control?
  • Once foxes are removed, how quickly will they be replaced by others?
  • When is fox control most effective?
  • What is sustaining fox numbers? What do they eat?

We have shown that predator control can be effective, and we have lifted the lid and shown how it works. For some problem species, we have made significant improvements in effectiveness and humaneness of control. These advances have allowed us to defend predation control as an option, when it was under intense attack from those who think only about individual animals, not about ecosystems. 

We’ve done all this with only a small team - the only team in Europe doing this kind of research - and you belong to the only sector of society who will fund it.  If you appreciate what we do, please help today with a donation

  • £25 - helps turn research into best practice advice for those working on the ground.
  • £75 - can help us to test new ways of controlling foxes and improve management for the benefit of the countryside.
  • £300 - funds a research scientist in the field for a day.

Support the voice of reason in a heated debate

You know from our research that shooting can be a vehicle to deliver more management and benefit other species. A measured, effective level of predation management could be seen an important tool in conservation management in the same way as supplementary feeding.

Help us put our findings into practice

Our research doesn’t just stay in scientific journals. It is presented to Parliament, government agencies and other NGOs, informs the public and is a vital tool for those who put it into practice on the ground. By supporting this work, you can give people the opportunity to make better decisions. So please help them to become more informed, using factually sound science and peer-reviewed evidence.

As we unravel the lives and daily activity patterns of foxes, and figure out the most reliable way of detecting them, we’ll be much better placed to provide researched-based advice on their effective management. This won’t just help the thousands of farmers and gamekeepers managing their own land, but nature reserves and public policy too.

Please support this work today so that the people managing our countryside have the best chance of making a difference. 

A GWCT member recently told us that he supports our work because “it can be a leading light on what is good and what is bad for the environment.” We're proud of that and you should be too. Please donate to this work today and be a leading light for the environment.

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