Published on Thursday 12 January 2012 09:25
A DEAD fox in the middle of the road is a common sight to many people.
But the discovery of one on a remote Scottish island has caused a stir.
The island of Colonsay has, until now, been fox-free and is officially recorded as such in documents dating back to 1892.
Now the 100 residents of the Hebridean island are trying to find out how the predator got there.
The lone fox was found at Scalasaig by islanders Ross Moodie and Chris Baker as they checked the island’s fire station for storm damage last month.
Mr Moodie said: “We drove up the road to the fire station at about 9pm and there was nothing on the road, but when we came back down – only five or ten minutes later – there was this thing lying in the middle of the road.
“At first we thought it was a cat, or a rabbit, but then we thought, no, it’s too big, and thought it was a dog – then we saw that it was a fox.”
The animal had a large gash behind its left ear and Mr Moodie believes that it had bled to death.
How the animal reached Colonsay remains a mystery.
Mr Moodie said: “Somebody had a theory that it came on a rib [rigid inflatable boat] carrying Hydro Board workers, but I am of the opinion that it came across in a bin lorry from Oban.”
Netta Titterton, who has lived on Colonsay all her life near the pier at Scalasaig, said: “The fox ended up right outside my house. It’s very strange, we have never had foxes here on Colonsay.
“It certainly wasn’t washed up, because the tide doesn’t reach that high, and Islay is the nearest place and it’s 15 miles away – so I don’t think it swam here.”
An 1892 book on Colonsay by the author Loder states that foxes had never been recorded on the island.
Mike Peacock, RSPB officer for Colonsay and Oronsay, said: “There are no foxes on Colonsay, Islay or Jura. The bin lorry is a possibility, but I think somebody has brought a dead fox here and dumped it as a practical joke, although I have no evidence to support that.”
Islander Kevin Byrne said: “No-one knows if it was a joker, but surely if it was they would have started joking about it by now?
“Maybe it got stuck in the wheels of a plane at Oban, before the plane flew into Colonsay. My feeling is that it was in the Argyll and Bute Council bin wagon when it came in on the ferry from Oban and was maybe injured.”
While the residents remain outfoxed by the mystery, they remain sure about one thing. Mr Byrne said: “We don’t want foxes on Colonsay. They would destroy the island’s ground- nesting birds.”
Meanwhile, a grey triggerfish normally found basking in the warm waters on the Mediterranean has been discovered washed up on a Hebridean beach.
RSPB volunteer worker Izzy Baker made the discovery when she was out walking on the island of Oronsay. She said: “I took the dogs out for a walk and just stumbled upon the fish, which is about 30cm long.”
“There have been a few found around the UK but it’s not usual for it to be in the Hebrides at this time of year.”
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