Autumn Red Card for Rabbits and Foxes shoot raises $17,000 for regional men’s health

Fox numbers have hopefully been stunted for another season after volunteers gathered at 23 locations across WA, for the annual Autumn Red Card for Rabbits and Foxes shoots, raising about $17,000 for regional men’s health.

According to submitted results, a total of 5148 foxes, rabbits, cats, pigs, and fowl were culled during February and March at shoots across the Wheatbelt and Great Southern.

The result was up from last year when a total of 4779 feral pests were culled as part of the annual shoot.

While a good result, numbers were down 2019 and 2020, when a total of 7177 and 6584 feral pests were culled during the program.

Each year, $5 per fox or cat destroyed is donated to Regional Men’s Health Initiative thanks to the Sporting Shooters Association of WA, with more than $126,640 raised through the program so far.

Boyup Brook-based Rylington Park manager Erlanda Deas said her family had been running the autumn shoot in the shire for the past 11 years and the best results were a few years ago when they managed to cull 700 foxes two years in a row.

“This year, 130 volunteers joined in and Boyup Brook recorded 395 foxes, 12 cats, 125 rabbits and eight pigs culled,” Ms Deas said.

She attributed declining results to a decline in fox numbers and difficulty sourcing volunteers.

Mingenew-Irwin Group project officer Jacqui Meares said the 33-volunteer turn out from the Mingenew and Irwin Shires enabled them to exterminate 133 foxes, 58 rabbits, 20 wild cats and 13 feral pigs during the shoot.

“The event ran from sunset until midnight — although some keen shooters did an all-nighter,” Ms Meares said.

She said the result was half that of the record in 2015, when about 266 foxes were culled.

The Southern Biosecurity Group had its best turn out on record with 28 volunteers from the Shire of Ravensthorpe, one of whom shot a feral deer, the first recorded by the group in its annual shoots.

SBG executive officer Michelle Grobler said 126 foxes, seven cats and 15 rabbits were also culled during the shoot.

Newdegate farmer Tim Walter said the autumn shoot usually resulted in 90-120 foxes culled over the weekend but this year the 30-odd volunteers in the shire only managed 57 foxes and three cats.

He said the night that was chosen for the shoot was probably not the best due to the amount of moonlight - which made them highly visible and gave the pests advanced warning of their approach.

Mr Walter said he’d been involved in the annual shoot for the past 10 years and found that while it helped to reduce numbers quickly, especially younger foxes, “there needed to be a follow up baiting program” to target those that got away.

He said while there had been a reduction in sheep numbers in the Newdegate area in the past decade, there was “still a fair number”.

He said some producers had introduced alpacas and herd protecting dogs to keep the foxes at bay — which appeared to be working.

Foxes have been a blight on sheep farmers for many years, mainly attacking lambs, which are a valuable commodity both in financial value as well as in flock replacement numbers.

According to the Australian Pest Animal Strategy 2017-2027, foxes, feral cats and rabbits adversely affect both biodiversity and agriculture, with conservative losses estimated on the Australian economy at between $720 million and $1b annually.

MLA data from 2019 estimates the overall national wool and sheepmeat production loss cost of foxes to be $28 million.

The cost of controlling foxes is likely to account for a significant portion of the $46m estimated to be spent by broadacre farmers and livestock producers on vertebrate pests each year.

A date will be set for the spring event in coming weeks.