That elusive fox

Ken White

I have been plugging away since 1998 saying that there is no fox …
I HAPPENED to be thrown together one evening in 1998 with one of the perpetrators of a fox hoax …

But you have to believe me as I have been asked more than once for his name and address.

My understanding of the events are that most likely a fox did hop off the wharf at Burnie and then perished.

This led someone lower down the scale in wildlife or farming management to create a scare campaign by understanding that should, or when, a real fox(s) be established in Tasmania our chance of acting decisively would then be minimal.

I believe I know how the rural mind works … and the hoaxers saw the Burnie fox scare as a good opportunity to make an ass out of the city slickers.

That was the drift I got from my informant after he had a sherbet or two with his dinner.

The hoax then took on legs of its own far — and grew beyond their imagination — so much so that the hoaxers became wary of coming forward because they were fearful of repurcussions

So, to date, the European fox in Tasmania is proving as elusive as the Tasmanian Tiger. Some say that the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) is extinct. Certainly a Tiger has not been indisputably seen for nigh on 65 years though many claims to the contrary are made from time to time.

Of late the Thylacine has been pushed off the pages of Tasmanian newspapers in an aggressive manner since the sightings of a fox two years or so ago when one was seen to hop off a container being unloaded from a ship from Melbourne. It appears that foxes are not uncommon on the Melbourne wharves so there is every possibility that sighting was authentic.

On the assumption that any fox is one too many, a great hunt was instigated — though neither hide nor fur was found.

The hunt cooled down until several months later a fox was sighted around the northern hamlet of Longford, 15 km south of Launceston. Though it’s 100 odd km, as the crow flies, from the port of Burnie to Longford, it is possible for a fox to travel that distance, no trouble; however it’s remarkable that it made the trip without anyone getting a glimpse of the red fellow. Of course it is also possible there are two or more foxes so God help the abundant Tasmanian wildlife if there are.

From the majority of witnesses it is significant that the sightings are stated as credible, vivid and from an unnamed source because the witnesses did not want the publicity. One man from the now famous Illawarra Road area of Longford even had the fox cornered in his chook house but it got away. That owner of the chook house also declined to be interviewed. The fox-sighters per se, are proving to be as elusive and timid as the traditional little red beast.

About two weeks of intense reporting followed, during which neither a fox nor a witness would come forward, though there was found on a wire fence some fur that was suspiciously vulpine, however it was suggested this fur smelled strongly of moth balls.

The Parks authority have put their might into eliminating the suspected blighter by spending up on traps, infra-red cameras and tracking. It became known that the traps were being baited with KFC, causing a cartoon to be drawn of a Parks ranger looking decidedly overweight.

Where possible the Parks personnel have sourced equipment locally and business was booming in a hamlet known once only for an annual folk festival. The Longford Council were also in on the act by hiring out machinery and staff to Parks while the district caterers were doing well from the extra work created over the slack winter period.

With no first-hand experience in the fox hunting business, Tasmanian Parks enlisted the services of experts with dogs from Victoria, though not a positive sniff was recorded. The dogs got excited once, running off in one direction so fast that they left the handlers behind, but maybe they had never smelled a Tasmanian Devil before?

Meanwhile on the east coast of Tasmania, in a little town with many hills and valleys away, a fox was shot and, after much publicity in the press and some cajolery, a skin was displayed for the camera. No matter that the pegged skin was only days old, and it was winter, the texture of the displayed pelt was remarkably dry and stiff as any Rembrandt. When pressed for the hide to be shown to an expert, the wife of the hunter said that a devil had eaten it while it was hanging on the Hills Hoist. Questions were asked with answers as vague as the numerous indecisive fox sightings, until suggestions of words from Parks like ‘creating a public nuisance’ took the sting out of that debate.

Again, a newspaper story with a picture of a couple of hunters at a Longford crossroads displaying a fox carcass once more showed how shy some people become in front of a camera. Try as they may to cover their persona, one of the hunters was recognized by his unusual watch.

When the frenzy of fox news had all but subsided foot print(s) were discovered and, from plaster casts taken, these were verified as the real thing by Melbourne experts; the hunt took off again in full cry. This indeed was hard, positive evidence so extra funding was promised from State Parliament while a request to Senator Hill received Federal support — bipartisan I suspect.

This writer had been warned three weeks before that fox-paw prints were about to be found.

My intelligence tells me that the paw print(s) can be matched with a stuffed fox from an antique shop in a neighbouring village.

Weeks later the headlines proclaimed, “Fox shot” however in this instance the shooter had dispatched the animal two weeks before on a night shooting expedition when he thought it was just a big red cat. He stumbled over the carcass ten or so days later in the daytime — and realised what he had shot. Over this 14 day period the carcass was decayed and mummified but mysteriously there were no foot prints evident. Now we have gone from footprints and no fox to a fox with no footprints!!

Oh well, the winter is over now and normal business has returned to Longford.

Will the Tasmanian fox return in colder, leaner times?

And, for trivia buffs, here’s a collection of Tasmanian newspaper headlines, collected from 05/06/’98 to 25/09/’01:
• Armed teams in hunt for fox.
• Buck sniffs at call to join the fox hunt
• Door knocking and chook checks in the great fox hunt
• Expert called in to boost fox hunt
• Fox hunt called off
• Fox hunt camera shoot misses prey
• Fox hunt cutback on cards
• Fox hunt scaled down after sightings dry up
• Help sought in fox hunt
• Hunt foiled by wily fox : hounds get only a scent of success
• Hunt in “quiet mode” as fox lies low
• Midlands fox hunt
• New angle on fox hunt
• Positive sighting helps hunt to focus on fox
• Salvo over call delay in fox hunt
• ‘Tally – ho’ it’s hunt season
• Task force widens scope of fox hunt
• Time running out for fox hunt
• Fox prints Longford
• Fox shot.

Ken White has spent a considerable part of his working life as a woolclasser and before that, a period as a shearer. Mixd up in that time frame he has tried his hand at more jobs than the average person would get to do in two or three lifetimes. From milkman, boatbuilder, tally clerk on the wharf, salesman, (he once sold a Websters Dictionary to a blind man), wilderness guide, owned and operated a roadhouse, sold furs through the Hudson Bay Company, and travelled a considerable amount, for example, 1700 km by bicycle in Vietnam. The last 10 years have been spent travelling extensively, riding bicycles, windsurfing, canoeing, playing badminton and bushwalking as well as writing.