A PRELIMINARY police investigation into allegations that evidence was fabricated within Tasmania’s Fox Eradication Program has wrapped up.
The review has been handed to Assistant Commissioner Glenn Frame who will decide whether a full-blown criminal probe is warranted.
It comes as questions are raised about the State Government’s official list of evidence used to support the presence of foxes in Tasmania.
A 2009 internal report, released publicly for the first time last month, analysed 39 fox scats which were part of the evidence collection.
Five of the scats were found to belong to completely different animals – namely a snake, wallaby and birds.
Rather than removing the false scats, fox officials have retained them as evidence of the pest’s incursion into Tasmania.
The documents, released under right to information, uncover further irregularities.
Two of the fox scats contained an identical foam rubber substance despite being found six months apart in different parts of the state.
It is understood police are interested in this anomaly. Several scientists have told the Mercury it is very unusual …
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Mercury
