Eight foxes, including four pregnant females, have been euthanised this year to protect turtle eggs and hatchlings at a key nesting sight in Queensland.
Environment Minister Steven Miles says the Nest to Ocean Turtle Protection Program detected 20 fox dens near the Mon Repos Regional Park near Bundaberg this year.
The program, jointly funded by the state and federal governments, resulted in eight foxes - five adult females, or vixens, and the males - being trapped and put down.
"Four vixens had 16 unborn pups between them, so that's a lot of foxes that could have eaten turtle eggs and hatchlings, taken out of the system," Dr Miles said.
About 70 per cent of the dens were found due to public responses to brochures, while the rest were found by fox detection dogs, he said.
Dr Miles said the that beaches in the area, from Elliot River north to Bustard Head, were home to the largest concentration of nationally threatened marine turtles, including loggerheads, flatbacks, greens and leatherbacks, on Australia's east coast.
"Nest losses of more than five per cent a year are unsustainable for the turtle populations, but some years ago we were losing up to 90 per cent of the nests in this area to foxes," he said.
"While the turtles are important in conservation terms, and a much-loved part of the local scene, they are also a big tourism drawcard for the region, and the community is keen to help for all those reasons."
Another fox control program is due to start further north between Bundaberg and Agnes Water, funded by a second round of the Nest to Ocean program.
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