Dead fox found in Orkney which has no known fox population

There is speculation that the animal may have been brought up from the Scottish mainland

A dead fox has been found in Orkney, which has no known fox population.

The body of the young female animal was discovered in Kirkwall, near the Balfour Hospital on Tuesday.

Staff members at the hospital spotted the animal, which was later taken away by Orkney Islands Council and a post mortem examination was carried out at a local vet practice.

People have been warned against bringing animals to the island from the mainland as there is a risk to public health.

The council confirmed the matter had been reported to the police.

Foxes have not existed on the island since the late Iron age with the only exception believed to be a failed attempt to introduce them in the 1930s.

A dead fox was found on the island in 2007, sparking concerns from farmers and environmentalists. It was thought it had been brought over from the mainland.

'Fairly unusual'

Balfour Hay is one of the vets who carried out the post-mortem on the animal at Northvet veterinary surgery.

He said it was a "fairly unusual" morning for the practice to have received a call about the fox found on the side of the road.

Mr Hay said the vets could tell from the extent of the decomposition that the animal had been dead for several days.

He said: "Based on the kind of injuries that we did see inside the body, we're fairly certain that it would have died from a road traffic accident or some other form of trauma.

"However, there was evidence on the post mortem that several of the fractures, particularly to the bones in its legs, certainly happened after it died. We don't know what would have caused those," he said.

Mr Hay suspects that the fox was unlikely a pet, based on the contents of the animals stomach.

Balfour Hay carried out the post-mortem on the animal

He said that the fox was covered in ticks, but a lot more than what would be expected on a local animal.

"There's already a bit of speculation that this animal may have been brought up from south. If that was the case, we just want to emphasise the potential risks to animal and public health from bringing animals up from outside of Orkney," he added.

"We're fortunate in Orkney that we have a water barrier to infectious diseases, so we do want to try our best to keep any infectious diseases that we don't have here out."

Mr Hay said he strongly suggests people do not bring animals to Orkney from elsewhere.

Orkney Islands Council’s trading standards manager, Gary Foubister, said that it was a "serious offence" to release non-native species, dead or alive.

Anyone with information has been urged to contact Police Scotland on 101.

Additional reporting by local democracy reporter Andrew Stewart.