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“Don’t fuck with our sheep! That’s New Zealand’s job!”
Am I doing it right
Hmm, can I see a source for this?
Not that I remotely support the extermination of a species for agricultural/economic reasons, but I have a very hard time imagining a fox taking down a sheep.
https://www.redcard.org.au/blog/scientists-prove-foxes-diet-on-sheep-and-possums
Hundreds of fox carcasses collected from the Wheatbelt have been put under the microscope to find out exactly what the predator eats.
Scientists from Murdoch University analysed the jaw strength and gut contents of 540 foxes captured through a community-based feral animal control program.
The foxes were collected from 13 different locations from Gingin to Corrigin to Mt Barker through the Red Card for Rabbits and Foxes program in 2010.
Murdoch University’s Associate Professor Trish Fleming has just published the findings.
“We’ve found that juvenile foxes eat as much sheep as an adult fox, with sheep making up to two thirds of their stomach contents,” Trish Fleming said.
Are the foxes actually predating them, though? Or just eating sheep that died in other ways?
(Not to say that the evidence is bad, just that I’m still genuinely curious how the foxes are getting them lol)
I also don’t know anything relevant, but:
sheep making up to two thirds of their stomach contents
This is a lot of sheep to have just “happened upon” and over a biggish area (Gingin to Corrigin to Mt Barker) (Gingin to Mt Barker is 63 miles by a slightly curving road).
True!
Young lambs, probably. They don’t fight back.
