A fox steals a shepherd’s stick

Foxes are carnivorous animals very capable of preying on such vulnerable prey as lambs. This is something confirmed both by researchers after carrying out academic studies in different parts of the world, and reported by countless livestock farmers who observe the mortality of very young offspring, especially during the first 24-72 hours of life, in attacks by the red fox.

Most livestock farmers confirm fox attacks

Studies such as “Factors associated with lamb predation in Great Britain” (Moberly et al., 2003), considered the benchmark study in Europe, concluded that 59% of the livestock farmers surveyed said they had lost at least one lamb to fox attacks. However, average losses were generally low in relation to flock size, noting that the incidence varied enormously between farms. The study confirmed that predation exists, but is highly localized and depends on specific circumstances.

A vengeful fox

The shepherd featured in these images knows this, and punishes the disrespect shown by the fox, which even goes so far as to “mark” the ground it is walking on with urine, by throwing his stick at it. He hits the animal right on the head, but far from intimidating it, what he achieves is that the fox runs to the place where the crook has fallen to pick it up in its mouth and carry it away, leaving him shouting and cursing.

Fox control to protect livestock farming

We can also talk about a field experiment that questioned the effectiveness of hunting controls in reducing losses for livestock professionals. It was carried out in 2000 in a country full of predators such as Australia: “Lamb predation and fox control in south-eastern Australia.” The researchers compared farms with different levels of fox control using baits. The main conclusions state that reducing the fox population reduced some predation episodes, but did not significantly increase final lamb production, because neonatal mortality is due to multiple other causes, and only one of them was eliminated. It should be noted that, if several of these causes are addressed, including fox control, lambing is clearly more successful.