A farmer in the Westfjords shot and killed a fox from his bedroom window in the hopes of protecting the local eider goose population. This is the fourth fox he has killed in this manner.
Bæjarins Bestu reports that the incident in question took place just before midnight Wednesday evening. Elínbjörg Snorradóttir, who lives on the farm Mýri in Dýrafjörður, looked out her bedroom window to see a fox on a hill overlooking the farm. Her husband, Bergsveinn Gíslason, quickly responded by retrieving his gun, which he keeps at the foot of his bed, taking aim at the fox from his window, and firing, killing it.
This is the fourth fox that has been killed this way, with three sniped the previous winter. The killings are not done for sport, though, but for purely economic reasons.
Mýri happens to be one of the largest nesting areas in Iceland for eider geese, and their feathers – for use in duvets and pillows – bring in considerable income. Foxes are an anathema to the trade, and are thus swiftly dealt with by the locals. Despite this, fox numbers have increased significantly in recent years.
According to The Arctic Fox Center, foxes are the only terrestrial mammal native to Iceland, and arrived some time during the Ice Age. Initially hunted for their fur as well as to protect livestock, the former practice has since stopped.
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