Are they in decline? Where is the evidence for this?  It may be because farmers are exterminating them, now that they can no longer hunt them. What B*ST*RDS!!!!  We should exterminate farmers/hunters! They have killed off our wolves, our bears, and our lions. Also our wolverines and our boar. Now, they want to exterminate our foxes! They are SH*T!!!!  I have thought for years, now, that farming should require a license, and should only be practiced by the trustworthy. Also, that farmers should be only able to sell to the government, to ensure they receive a predictable income, and cannot regard a lamb lost to a fox as a significant financial loss. Any other such measures as would prevent their killing off of our wildlife should also be taken.  Farmers say that townies are 'soft' on nature, but farmers are 'soft' on their own animals. This is why they get so upset when they lose a lamb. They are irrational themselves, and cannot be trusted to be in charge of animals. They need to be monitored, by the govt, or by an independent body, such as the RSPCA. When they have been found to have been at fault, they should receive at least a statutory fine!  Farmers who cannot be rational about wildlife, when they live in the country and interact with it, should leave farming! :mad: The reason they kill foxes now that hunting has been banned, is to keep the level of foxes down, they eat the farmers sheep.