Phillip Island’s ‘rogue fox’ is still on the loose despite huge efforts to capture it

It’s been on the loose for more than a month, killing chickens and livestock across the island, so what’s the plan to hunt it down before more damage is done?

Jazz the fox dog on the job to hunt a rogue fox on Phillip Island. Picture: Phillip Island Nature Parks.

A fox, still on the loose in Phillip Island, has killed more than 30 chickens sparking concerns for the welfare of the island’s wildlife population.

It was first captured on CCTV on May 9 and as of Wednesday June 15 it still had avoided capture.

“Our pest control team is working tirelessly with resources in field. Although the fox has avoided capture to date, our rangers continue to track its movements and are confident the control efforts will result in Phillip Island being fox-free again,” Phillip Island Nature Parks CEO Catherine Basterfield.

“There has been a further report of livestock loss, with more chickens being killed at the initial site.”

On May 9, up to 30 chickens were found slaughtered at Phillip Island Free Range Eggs before wildlife conservationists set up cameras and caught the fox on video. On Wednesday Basterfield said this had continued.

“There has been a further report of livestock loss, with more chickens being killed at the initial site.”

The fox caught on CCTV footage is still at-large on Phillip Island. Picture: supplied.

Basterfield said the first sighting was a shock to the team, but they had been working around the clock to eliminate the fox since.

“It was a bit of a shock to us, but since the sighting we have spent quite a bit of time and energy tracking down our rogue fox,” she said.

Her team has worked on eliminating foxes before, the last time a fox was seen was in 2015.

They have a range techniques in their arsenal to trap the pest species including baiting controls, camera scanners and fox dogs.

The “fox dog” Jazz, who specialises in fox poo detection, has been employed to hunt the fox and remove it from the island.

“Jazz does a great job of sniffing out the fox scents and fox skats and helps scan the area in which someone has proposed to see fox. He’s been quite reliable and helped us find the area and confirmed the sighting,” Ms Basterfield said.

Phillip Island Nature Parks "fox dog" Jazz on the hunt. Picture: Phillip Island Nature Parks.

After Jazz scouted an area the Nature Parks team deployed infra-red cameras to monitor the foxes routine.

“The team has sighted the fox on camera and we are trying to get understanding of its routine to detect where it’s den might be,” Ms Basterfield said.

While the fox remains at-large in the community, concerns for native wildlife populations are growing, including the world-famous penguins.

A lone fox is capable of killing dozens of penguins in one night.

It comes only days after Nature Parks counted a record number of 5219 penguins who came home to Summerland Bay.

Stuart Murphy, Nature Parks vertebrae pest program manager, told ABC Gippsland radio he thinks the fox is alone.

“We’re hoping it’s just the one and we’re testing the biological samples we’ve collected from the animals that have been killed and the few skats that were found during our surveys,” he said.

“We sent them away to get the genotypes and it’s going to give us a DNA fingerprint on the animal and tell us whether it’s a male or a female, and once again, whether it’s just the one animal.”

He ruled out the animal entering the island via the bridge as special cameras would have alerted his team.

It is possible the fox swam from the mainland.

“We don’t know but we pretty much know it hasn’t come across the bridge. Another possibility is a natural migration via swimming here,” Mr Murphy said.

“Foxes are pretty adventurous when the times are right, and they can swim reasonable distances in search for food and new territory and other foxes.”