Sheep farmer Ted Hill, who runs a property in West River in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, says he has never seen so many foxes on his land.



"We were out the other night … we went into a mob of sheep, drove around and we saw this fox so we shot it," he said.



"Without moving the vehicle we shot five more just by whistling with a fox whistle, in the space of half an hour.

"I've got 10,000 acres. [That night] we roamed around for about four hours … and we got 21 foxes."



In February, the ABC reported on concerns local growers had over low rabbit populations and the impact on their stock come lambing time.



Mr Hill said he was frustrated about losing livestock.



"We've just done our marking, and we're down … at least 155," he said.



"I've been in the game for 50 years now … I feel like I can pick them out pretty well … [which ones were] born dead or eaten by foxes."



Steep decline in rabbit population

Mr Hill, whose property borders the Fitzgerald National Park, said he had noticed a steep decline in rabbits on his block, which he believed was endangering his livestock and native animals.



"They'll be back there [at Fitzgerald National Park] chasing all these little marsupials there when the lambs get too big to attack," he said.

The Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) told the ABC in January the low rabbit numbers were due to the unexpected arrival of the virus RHDV-2 to Western Australia last year.



The exotic strain of calicivirus was first detected in the state in October, and can be transmitted rabbit to rabbit and by insect vectors.



According to the department, rabbits costs the country $206 million in agricultural production loss annually.

Fox Busters website owner Graham Lawrence says there are more reports of foxes this year in the Great Southern. ( ABC Rural: Kit Mochan )

So do foxes eat rabbits?



Fox-hunting business owner Graham Lawrence, who runs the Fox Buster website out of Cranbrook, said it was a common misconception that foxes ate rabbits.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 27 seconds 27 s Cranbrook fox hunter Graham Lawrence debuts his 'secret weapon' for foxes ( ABC Great Southern: Kit Mochan, Graham Lawrence ) Download 215.1 KB

He said rabbits were not high on a fox's list.



"Before I was doing autopsies on the foxes I had the same thought, that foxes were controlling rabbit numbers," he said.



"Over the last five years I've probably cut open about 600 foxes, and there's only nine of them that I've managed to identify the remains of rabbits."

Fox Buster website owner Graham Lawrence says that foxes eat, among other things, caterpillars, grasshoppers and beetles. ( Supplied: Andy Way )

Mr Lawrence said the population boom could be attributed to a good summer.



"The way we measure fox density … it does seem to have increased," he said.



"[In our area] we've had a green summer and there's been high numbers of caterpillars, grasshoppers, and they always eat beetles.



"Foxes have been really fat and healthy."

Mr Lawrence said foxes preyed on lambs, especially when a ewe gave birth to twins and was unable to protect both.



He said the omnivores had been known to eat almost anything, including yabbies and grapes.



"They've been known to drag the yabby trap out of the dam and feed themselves on yabbies," he said.



"[One grower] lost a whole vintage … because foxes stripped the grapes off his vines."