Yes, but supplementing our wild foxes with an entirely new gene pool can't
be a good thing. It could make them genetically more robust and better able
to resist diseases, which could make any future biocontrols we might come up
with less effective. Just an example of one possible knock-on effect, who
knows what impacts this could have that we would never anticipate ahead of
time, like Gambusia making Mosquitos worse, or that insect they released to
control Lantana that attacks Fiddlewood instead.
Also, would allowing them to be brought in as pets suddenly allow a loophole
to bring them into Tasmania freely, or onto other islands like Norfolk or
Lord Howe?
Our environment is already pretty stuffed, lets not mess with it any further
I say.
Cheers,
Chris
ps. I agree that this isn't as bad as the Savanna Cats idea though, that was
far more terrifying.
On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 2:17 PM, John Leonard <>wrote:
> Not as stupid a plan as importing Savanna Cats, which could outcompete
> the feral cats already here and kill wildlife even more efficiently,.
> Silver Foxes are just a colour-phase of the Red Fox and if they
> escaped would just merge into the gene-pool. Australia is already
> fully-stocked with feral foxes.
>
> John Leonard
>
> On 6 September 2011 13:52, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
> > Greg,
> >
> > They will make interesting looking hybrids with the Red Fox; see
> > http://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/arctic-foxred-fox-hybrids/
> >
> > Carl Clifford
> >
> >
> > On 06/09/2011, at 12:24 PM, Greg Little wrote:
> >
> > Carl
> >
> > Fully agree mate, there are enough exotic pests in the country without
> > introducing more.
> >
> > Greg Little
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:
> > On Behalf Of Carl
> Clifford
> > Sent: Tuesday, 6 September 2011 11:31 AM
> > To: Birding-Aus Aus
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Plan to import Silver Foxes as pets
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > Yet another bit of lunacy by the pet industry. An application to
> > import Silver Foxes (not the type that hang out in upmarket bars) as
> > pets, has been lodged by someone in NSW. Fortunately most of our
> > steamed leaders have not been terribly enthusiastic. Tony Burke, the
> > Fed Environment leader has said "at first glance it seems insane".
> > Personally, I think the idea is insane no matter how many glances, or
> > even a long, hard stare are given to this idea. It is about as
> > intelligent idea as the attempt to import Savannah Cats.
> >
> > Details can be found at
> >
> http://m.smh.com.au/environment/animals/silver-fox-import-plan-condemned-201
> > 10905-1jubj.html
> >
> > Carl Clifford
> >
> > ===============================
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> > send the message:
> > unsubscribe
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to:
> >
> > http://birding-aus.org
> > ===============================
> >
> >
> > ===============================
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> > send the message:
> > unsubscribe
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to:
> >
> > http://birding-aus.org
> > ===============================
> >
>
>
>
> --
> John Leonard
> Canberra
> Australia
> www.jleonard.net
>
> I want to be with the 9,999 other things.
> ===============================
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================
>
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
