The Falkland Island Fox

Abstract

IN a review in the current number of NATURE of Mr. Renshaw's “Some Mammalian Types,” reference is made to the “Antarctic wolf of the Falkland Islands exterminated by the sheep farmers in self defence.” Might I be permitted to add a word on this subject in correction of an erroneous impression current among many naturalists with regard to this animal? During a visit to the Falkland Islands in 1903, and again in 1904, I made careful inquiries with regard to the native wolf or fox. The oldest sheep farmers in the islands, men who remembered when the fox was still plentiful, insisted that it was quite a mistake to credit it with attacking sheep; this never occurred, and the reason that the farmers waged war against the foxes was because the sheep, apparently mistaking them for dogs, especially at night, in their terror ran into the bogs and swamps which abound in the islands and were consequently lost. None of the farmers whose experience went back to the time of these foxes had any memory of sheep being killed or even mauled by them. In making this correction, I must say that I have not seen Mr. Renshaw's book, and consequently do not know what reason he attributes for the extermination of the fox.