§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of(a) the measures required to control urban foxes and (b) the effects of releasing urban foxes into the countryside. [39112]
§ Angela EagleA recent decline in reported sightings suggests that the number of urban foxes has fallen in some cities, and a study in 1987 showed that urban foxes tend to be self-regulating. Furthermore, although foxes could in theory transmit certain infections to man, such a toxocariasis, hydatid disease or pasteurellosis, from the limited data available foxes have not been implicated in any cases of these diseases among humans. It is not therefore thought necessary to consider measures to control them.
It is not in general an offence to move wild animals around the country, and relocation of native foxes is not prohibited by our conservation legislation. Reports of large-scale releases of foxes into the countryside have not been substantiated.