Wolves would not waste time on foxes
FARMER Giles Bradshaw should know that wolves do not normally hunt foxes, Controls maintain a balance in nature, Points of view, June 22.
Although a wolf is a carnivore, their prey is primarily large, herbivorous hoofed animals such as deer. I find it difficult to imagine a pack of wolves hunting a fox. Wolves, unlike foxes, hunt in packs and they would not expend their energy chasing such a morsel over long distances — especially for sport.
Mr Bradshaw goes on to claim the form of human control which best mimics natural predation is hunting with dogs. Perhaps he could explain whether there is any control on the number of humans in the gangs, or the number of horses and hounds, who go hunting?
John Phelps
Argyll Road, Exeter
(by email)
2 Comments
by giles bradshaw, Rose Ash
Friday, July 10 2009, 6:27PM
“The literature does not back John Phelps' claim that wolves will not kill foxes.
Predators predating other predators is a well documented phenomenon know as intraguild predation.
"Wolves will predate fox in Europe (as will Lynx)" Beyond Conservation
By Peter Taylor
"Wolves and lynx have predated on foxes for millennia and still do in North America and central Europe. Hounds and terriers are the natural descendants of these predators. Foxes themselves predate on weasels, stoats, rats and cats, if they can catch them, and in the northern limits of this kingdom the Golden Eagle may feed its young on a diet dominated by fox cubs or cats! Eagle Owls also take fox cubs."
Vetinary Association for Wildlife Management.
". In canids, larger species kill smaller-bodied contemporaries such that wolves (20-80 kg) kill coyotes (11-15 kg) and red foxes (5-6 kg), coyotes kill red foxes and kit foxes (1.8-3 kg) and red foxes kill Arctic foxes (3-4 kg) and kit foxes"
PVP : Predator vs Predator
Darren Naish
I have not been able to find a single claim that wolves don't kill foxes.”
by FWK, Crediton
Thursday, July 09 2009, 9:42AM
“It seems to be a more or less general rule in nature that carnivores eat herbivores - and sometimes omnivores - but rarely other carnivors. This largely applies to us, as omnivors, although some cultures do eat cats and dogs. Even the pig - an omnivore, though largely a herbivore in nature - is an object of disagreement between cultures.
As hunter-gatherers we may have killed foxes because we saw them as competitors, but at the same time we domesticated foxes and wolves for our own purposes. As we developed into stock rearers (and crop growers) the incentive to control foxes and wolves grew. But all along, man has probably been the foxes main predator/controller. Big cats may have killed foxes as competitors, but do they kill canines to eat? I don't know.
But while this argues that it is 'natural' for humans to control foxes, it means that Giles Bradshaw's argument is somewhat of a false trail.”