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Results

Local Authority survey

Question 1: Is there an established fox population?

LA's response indicated that eight (53%) of the towns in question had urban fox populations. This included all of those towns for which are currently known to have an established fox population. For three towns (20%), the answer was a definite "no". No response was received relating to Livingston. A summary of responses is shown in table 2.

Table 2. Is there an established fox population? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size

Question 2: Do you receive complaints regarding fox cubs?

Only three LA's (19%) said that they 'regularly' received complaints regarding fox cubs; all three were areas where we knew of current urban fox populations. Five towns reported 'occasionally' receiving such complaints (31%); three of these were the remaining towns known to have a population. Six towns (38%) were reported as never receiving fox cub complaints, and a further two (13%) were unsure (see table 3).

Table 3. Do you receive complaints regarding fox cubs? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

Question 3: Does the Council receive other complaints regarding foxes?

Only one LA responded that it "regularly" received complaints regarding foxes other than those about fox cubs. Other complaints about foxes were received "occasionally" by the majority of towns (75%), and no complaints were reported for three towns (19%) (see table 4).

Table 4. Does the council receive other complaints regarding foxes? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

Question 4: Do your cleansing or Environmental health departments remove dead foxes from roads?

Four LA's (27%) reported that removal of dead foxes from roads occurred "regularly", eight (53%) reported that it occurred "occasionally" and two (13%) were "unsure". One LA said that this happened very occasionally but only in the country rather than the town, so this was recorded as a "no". One LA did not provide information. See table 5.

Table 5. Do your Cleansing/Environmental Health departments remove dead foxes from roads? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

A second section of questions asked for details on the numbers of complaints and on changes in the fox population (assuming that there was one present).

Question 1: How has the urban fox population changed over the past five years?

LA's for seven towns (47%) thought that the urban fox population had "increased", none thought that it had "decreased", five (33%) thought it had "remained unchanged", three (20%) were "unsure" . No information was given for Livingston. See table 6.

Table 6. How has the urban fox population changed in the past 5 years? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

Question 2: Over the past five years how have the number of calls or reports you receive changed?

LA's for nine towns (56%) considered calls to have "increased", this included all but one of the towns currently known to have foxes. Six (38%) stated that they were "unchanged", none had "decreased", and one was "unsure". See table 7

Table 7. How have the number of calls and reports changed in past 5 years? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

Question 3: Approximately how many complaints or reports of foxes do you receive per year?

LA's for three towns (19%) stated no reports of foxes. Five towns (43%) estimated they received 10 or fewer calls per year. Four towns (25%) received between 11 and 25 calls, two (13%) received between 26 and 50 calls and the two major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow had more than 50 calls each. These data is summarised in table 8.

Table 8. How many reports of foxes do you receive per year (approximately)? Shaded towns indicate that a fox population is already known to be established. Towns are listed by human population size.

Scottish SPCA data

The number of fox related calls received by the SSPCA in the year 2004-05 and in April to June 2006 are presented in table 9. The figures for 2004-05 do not include calls requesting information on deterrents. The table is sorted by the ratio of fox calls per 10,000 of human population for the 2004-05 data. Therefore the towns at the top of the table received more calls in relation to their human population size than those at the bottom. Edinburgh produced the most calls (both in total and per human population) with Perth and Kirkcaldy the least ( i.e. none).

The figures for 2006 include all calls that related to foxes, regardless of the nature of the call, hence the figures are about half the previous yearly figures despite covering only a quarter of the year. The relative distribution of calls relating to each town is broadly similar to the previous data set suggesting that the data is a fairly consistent reflection of public encounters with foxes in these towns.

Table 9. Scottish SPCA calls regarding foxes in each town, and ratio of calls to 10,000 human population. Shaded towns are those where an established fox population is already known to be present. Towns highlighted in bold italics have a human population >50,000.

The 2006 data set was analysed for all calls where there were mention of cubs; the terms 'baby fox' and 'young fox' were also included in the search. The number of calls regarding fox cubs from each town/city is shown in table 10. All six towns or cities in which we already know there are urban foxes had more calls than any of the other areas (66 calls from Edinburgh/Glasgow and 13 calls from remaining four towns). There were only three records of calls regarding cubs in the 15 other towns and cities.

Although comparable fox cub figures were not available for the 2004-05 data, the SSPCA did provide information on numbers of calls that mentioned cubs in the towns for which there was no knowledge of fox populations. These amounted to two calls, one each from Dundee and Ayr.

Table 10. Scottish SPCA calls that refer to fox cubs between April and June 2006. Shaded towns indicate that an established fox population is already known to be present. Towns highlighted in bold italics have a human population >50,000.

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