Hunting Ban Had No Effect On Fox Numbers
In 2001, a ban on fox hunting was instituted in Britain for nearly one year. The Mammal Society assessed the degree to which this ban had an effect on the size of the fox population by measuring fecal density before and during the ban. The study found that the hunting ban had no effect on the size of the fox population.
Executive Summary:
“Pressure for legislative change to make hunting illegal has fuelled debate about the impact of hunting on fox numbers. Although a recent governmental review concluded that this was minimal (Burns et al., 2000), there are no quantified data to support this assertion. A ban on hunting for nearly a year during the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in 2001 provided a unique opportunity to quantify the impact of hunting on fox numbers.”
“Fox abundance, measured by faecal counts along transects in 160 1-km squares, was compared in the two years immediately preceding the hunting ban with data collected from the same 1-km squares immediately after hunting resumed. The data were collected by a mixture of paid surveyors and volunteers. The 160 1-km squares were scattered around lowland areas of mainland Britain. Each square was walked twice both pre-FMD and post-FMD, once to remove all the existing fox faeces, and a second time two to six weeks later to count the number of fresh faeces.Mean transect length in each 1-km square was 7.0 km pre-FMD, 6.8 km post-FMD i.e. 1120 km of transect was walked twice pre-FMD, 1088 km of transect walked twice post- FMD. The 1-km squares were allocated to one of nine different regions and were classified as “hunted” or “not-hunted” depending on whether they lay within or outside a hunt country.”
“The mean number of faeces recorded post-FMD was 4.7% lower than the mean number recorded pre-FMD. There was no significant difference in the number of squares where faecal density increased compared to those that decreased/did not change in “hunted” and “not-hunted” squares. Nor did the absolute or relative changes in faecal density differ between “hunted” and “not-hunted” squares. There was no difference in the pattern of change in fox abundance between areas within or outside a hunt country and there was no change in fox numbers in seven of nine regions; in one region numbers increased, in one they decreased. The pattern of change was not associated with the normal level of hunting activity in each region. These data show that the ban on hunting had no impact on fox numbers in Britain.”