It's a bit like the episode of Yes Minister with the new hospital that was too busy with meetings and paperwork to admit any patients. Sightings and video footage should be commonplace since wallaby spotlighting is a common practice in Tasmania, as is keeping chooks. I suspect that most of the try-hards who find fox scats are the same people who bring them over from Victoria. Perhaps the ferry should have sniffer dogs to uncover fox turds hidden in cars.

There is no doubt that Tasmanian wildlife would be decimated by smarter and more agile foxes. However foxes are easy to find, not only sightings but barking or a mangy odour and steam emanating from a rabbit burrow on a frosty morning. Dissolve the fox taskforce but keep elements of it on standby in case a breeding pair is brought in by mischief.

Dr Marks – I read the blog with great relief: no positive identification for a fox presence currently in Tassie.
I hope the quest for a positive test continues to fail, but be maintained - without being diverted by false trails

Get rid of the fox task force before funding is up for review again. Get a Game Council like NSW and have licensed hunters do feral control for free.

There is no way that foxes would be present without one being hit on the road or shot by a farmer.

What about a panther task force? Panthers too have the habit of leaving sign exclusively for the committed.

As a Mainlander , who has moved to Tasmania, I was aware of the "Find the Fox " Joke long before I arrived here.

It's a typical waste of Taxpayers Monies, a feat in which Tasmanian Government Bodies are experts.

Should , however, it be proved that there are indeed Foxes here , one must feel sorry for their descendants.

Ask a Tasmanian Tiger

Aspley, as the author has spelled out in no uncertain terms – In no place in the world, where foxes have established a breeding presence, has their removal proved to be possible. Not maintaining an adequate vigilance against such establishment is irresponsible.

However it is wasteful for government to maintain a task force for something that doesn't exist. Just bring in a Games Council as very successfully done in NSW and there is continuous monitoring and control of all feral species, for instance feral cats, at low or no cost to the public.

ttp://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/