Sniffing out foxes in Tasmania
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Scat-detector dogs have been used to sniff out evidence of foxes in Tasmania. (DPIW)
There has been more evidence of foxes in Tasmania with five more fox scats identified.
It comes as the eradication program begins to explore new ways to hunt for the predator.
Five specimens collected from Burnie, Longford and Barrington in May and June this year have been identified as fox scats by the University of Canberra.
The manager of the Fox Eradication Program, Alan Johnston says the specimens were discovered using the help of three scat-detector dogs.
"They're so able to cover large areas of land faster than people can and probably with a greater degree of detection capacity as well, so they've been a wonderful addition to our program."
The latest evidence brings to 19 the number of fox scats found in Tasmania over the past year.
"Each additional bit of evidence is not good news," said Mr Johnston.
The evidence will help target baiting and spotlighting operations, and Mr Johnston says the program is also considering using fox tracking dogs to hunt for the pest.
"It's not easy in the environment we've got because there's so much other wildlife around, it's not the same situation that people have, say, using tracking dogs in Victoria, where they aren't distracted by a wide range of other wildlife but we do plan to explore those possibilities," he said.
The fox taskforce has been operating for the past six years.
