Fox Predation on Lambs in Western Australia
Foxes are one of the most destructive introduced predators in WA. They take lambs, kill poultry, and devastate native wildlife. Farmers are copping the cost, and the usual solutions come with their own problems.
A fox on the move in WA. They’re everywhere, and they’re hungry.
The numbers
Research consistently shows that foxes kill between 2% and 5% of lambs in affected flocks across southern Australia. In some flocks during bad years, losses can reach double digits. Nationally, fox predation on livestock is estimated at $30-60 million per year. In WA, where sheep and lamb production is a major agricultural sector, those losses hit hard. Every lamb lost to a fox is income gone from a farming family’s bottom line.
The Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions are the heartland of WA’s sheep industry, and they’re also prime fox country. Foxes are declared pests under the BAM Act 2007, and landowners have a legal obligation to control them. But controlling foxes is easier said than done. You set the rules. We make sure they’re followed.
What foxes are doing in WA
Lamb predation
Foxes target newborn lambs, particularly in the first 48 hours after birth. They’re opportunistic and persistent. A single fox working a lambing paddock can take multiple lambs over the course of a week. Twin lambs are especially vulnerable — while the ewe defends one, the fox takes the other. Farmers who’ve watched it happen say it’s infuriating. They can hear it at night but can’t stop it without being out there every evening.
Poultry and small stock
Foxes don’t stop at lambs. Free-range poultry operations, hobby farms with ducks and geese, and smallholders running goat kids all cop it. A fox that finds a way into a chook run will kill every bird it can, often taking far more than it eats. Surplus killing is well-documented fox behaviour. For the farmer or smallholder, it’s devastating — both financially and emotionally.
Impact on native wildlife
WA is home to some of the most threatened mammals on the planet, and foxes are a primary reason. Numbats — WA’s faunal emblem — are critically endangered largely because of fox predation. Woylies (brush-tailed bettongs) have declined by over 90% since European settlement, with foxes identified as a key driver. Bilbies, quokkas, western ring-tail possums, and numerous ground-nesting birds are all under pressure from fox predation. Every fox taken from the landscape is a win for native wildlife.
The 1080 baiting problem
1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) baiting is the most common fox control method in WA. It’s effective, but it comes with a serious downside: it kills dogs too. Farm dogs, working dogs, pig dogs, pet dogs — any dog that picks up a bait is at risk. Farmers who rely on dogs for mustering or pest work face a terrible choice: bait for foxes and risk their dogs, or don’t bait and keep losing lambs. Check our bowhunting versus baiting comparison for more on this.
Bowhunting: the dog-safe alternative
This is where bowhunting comes into its own. A bowhunter on a property during lambing season is quiet, targeted, and zero risk to farm dogs. No poisons. No traps that might catch the wrong thing. Just a patient hunter sitting on a vantage point at dusk, waiting for a fox to show itself.
Foxes are creatures of habit. They use the same trails, check the same paddocks, and approach from the same direction. An experienced bowhunter who spends a couple of evenings learning the patterns can be very effective. And because the bow is silent, taking one fox doesn’t spook the others off the property the way a firearm would.
For farmers in the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, and sheep country across WA, having a bowhunter on call during lambing is a genuine asset. Read more about fox hunting with a bow and how our ethical standards keep it professional.
For landowners
If foxes are taking lambs on your property, Drawn Bush can connect you with vetted, insured bowhunters who’ll work around your schedule and your dogs. Free, quiet, effective. Check out the landowner hub or register your property.
Got a feral problem on your property?
We connect WA landowners with vetted, ethical bowhunters for free pest control. You set the rules. We make sure they’re followed.
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