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Methods

Local Authority survey questionnaire

An initial survey of local authorities ( LA's) was carried out to find out if any of their environmental services, and in particular, pest control departments received calls relating to foxes or were aware of urban foxes in their area. This information could be used as a basis for further investigation. Although few, if any, LA's have pest controllers that deal with foxes, it was considered quite likely that they still receive calls since many people are likely to resort to the council in the first instance with a pest problem. Also councils have other environmental workers who may come into contact with foxes, e.g. dog wardens and cleansing staff, who would be responsible for collecting fox carcasses that had been killed in road traffic accidents (accounting for some 50% of mortality of urban foxes).

CSL use a human population size of 50,000 people as the cut-off point for calculating urban fox densities in towns. If a town is smaller than this, then they do not attempt to estimate the fox density, since fox control undertaken in the surrounding countryside is considered sufficient to lower the fox density to a level at which the disease cannot persist. Data from SCROL (Scotland's Census Results OnLine) suggested that at the time of the most recent census (2001) only seven towns and cities in Scotland exceeded 50,000 in population. Fox data were already held for four of these areas (see above), with Aberdeen, Dundee and Livingston being the three for which there is no urban fox data. A further two towns were within 1500 of the 50,000 population mark, and SASA had no urban fox data for one of these - Cumbernauld.

We considered a number of towns that were below 50,000 in population because depending on growth rates and new developments they may approach 50,000 in size in the short or medium term. We also included most of the areas for which we already held urban fox data, and in which we knew that urban foxes lived. In effect, this provided a set of 'control' data received from local authorities, ensuring that their responses reflected the urban fox situation in those cities and towns known to harbour foxes. The towns that were included in the survey are listed in table 1. Only those with a population over 40,000 are considered in the results.

Table 1. Towns in survey and 2001 population size ( SCROL)

Shaded towns indicate those for which there is a known established fox population.

Survey questionnaires and an explanatory covering letter were posted to all of the relevant local authorities (see Annex). Some towns fell within the same LA area, and in these cases a single package was posted out which contained a separate questionnaire for each town in question.

Responses were eventually received from all authorities, although some had to be resent questionnaires or contacted by telephone to prompt a response. The quality and reliability of all the responses are likely to vary considerably, and in some cases the response may only reflect the opinion of the person filling in the form rather than factual information.

Scottish SPCA records

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals deals with many calls regarding wild animals, and it was considered possible that they may have useful data on the number of calls relating to foxes in the towns that we were interested in. It is highly likely to expect more calls about foxes from residents in urban areas that have urban foxes, than from residents who do not themselves have foxes in their neighbourhood. The range of calls one would expect the SSPCA to receive would include foxes injured, but still alive, subsequent to a road traffic accident; foxes injured or trapped by some misadventure, and calls regarding fox cubs suspected as being orphaned. Furthermore, the SSPCA also offer advice to householders who regard foxes as a general nuisance. Unlike most LA's the SSPCA make a record of all calls received. When contacted, the Society agreed to provide us with a breakdown of the number of calls received about foxes from each of the towns in question; this information covered the period of September 2004 to August 2005. The data provided were pre-summarised by the towns we requested, but excluded calls on the general question of deterring foxes. No explanation was given as to why this exclusion was included.

In 2006, the SSPCA provided us with a further data set covering the period of April 2006 through to the end of June 2006. Notes on the topic of each call were this time provided, including those on the question of deterrents. This enabled us to isolate calls relating to fox cubs, which occur most commonly between April and June. The presence of fox cubs provides a clear indication of an established fox population, i.e. resident and breeding, rather than the occasional presence of a fox that may have strayed into an urban area from the surrounding countryside, and not actually settled there.

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