An 8-year experiment on poultry predation and fox populations in the Jura Massif, France.

Context

This dataset was collected to investigate fox damage to poultry in experimental areas and to answer the question of whether classifying the fox as 'likely to cause damage' (ESOD) has a measurable effect on damage to poultry.

The henhouse survey was carried out from April 6, 2021 to January 6, 2025 in two study sites at two different altitudes, corresponding to hunting units of the Fédération départementale des chasseurs du Doubs (FDC25). Fox populations were surveyed from 2017 to 2024 by FDC25 from March to April (pre-breeding period), depending on altitude, using night roadside counts. Each sampling event consisted of driving a car with 4 people (the driver, a data recorder and two observers) along 54 fixed tracks (range 0.5 – 4.7 km, mean 1.4 km) totalling 76 km, at less than 20 km/h. Observations were performed using 100-W spotlights at night and binoculars for species identification. Sampling was carried out on 3 successive nights after sunset called a 'session'. A Kilometric Abundance Index (KAI) was calculated for each session as the maximum number of animals recorded km-1 (thus providing a lower limit for the number of animals present).

20 villages were included in the survey, distributed as evenly as possible across the study sites, trying to match population size of villages among areas as closely as possible. Each village was surveyed by France Nature Environnement Doubs (FNE25) first by asking the mayor and then residents about the location of henhouses and poultry farms until no new henhouses could be found. Contact was then made with each owner and the henhouse was described in detail. Every six months thereafter, the owner was contacted to find out the number of birds present and whether or not he had suffered any damage, and if so, a detailed investigation of the damage was carried out using a questionnaire.

For more detail see the article (currently submitted) : Investigating the effects of red fox management on poultry beyond the controversy, Jura Massif, France.

File description

figure_01_carte.png

Map of the study area

foxcount.txt

Fox roadside counts

NOM
zone name

statut
fox status : SOD, Espèce susceptible d'occasionner des dégâts (ESOD) ; P, protected

an
 year

mo
 month

Idtr
 track ID

nmax
 maximum number of foxes observed

length
 track length (meters)

IKA
 Kilometric abundance index (KAI) = nmax/length*1000

Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx

Poultry and damage description database.

sheet 'Description'
description of the henhouses

sheet 'Degats'
description of the damages

sheet 'Communes'
commune ID

sheet 'Lisez moi_!'
description of the columns of the sheet 'Description' and 'Degats'

dbdes2_full.xlsx

Database with the condition scores of henhouses, the duration of observation (in days), and the number of damages. The first row gives the original column names (see Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx) from which condition scores were derived, the second row the column names used in R with additional columns computed either from Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx) or internally. 

Score computed from two columns were computed following this sequential algorithm :

considering two columns of the same color

those without an outdoor run are set to NA

double NA not belonging to the previous category are set to zero

if one of the two values is NA, one takes the other

if two values, one takes the smaller one

The reason for combining two columns is that vulnerability can result from the weakest protection in the descriptions of two elements of the same device. For instance, fence height and gate of the fence height must be considered together, and the lower value taken.

Column name in 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'
New column name
color
description

couleur
coul

1 (useless: actually used for data extraction from an intermediate file not provided)

CODE
ID

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

NATURE SOL BAT
sol

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

SYSTEME DE FERMETURE OUVERTURE VOLAILLE
sysferm

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

Nb Total d'ouvertures
ntotouv

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

PARCOURS
parcours

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

NATURE SOL PARCOURS
solparc

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

TYPE CLOTURE PARCOURS
clotparc
grey
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

HAUTEUR MIN CLOTURE EXT (m)
hminclotparc
yellow
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

PROTECTION PARTIE HAUTE CLOTURE
protechaut
wheat
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

PROTECTION PARTIE BASSE CLOTURE
protecbas
green
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

NATURE PORTAIL
portail
grey
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

HAUTEUR PORTAIL (m)
hautportail
yellow
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

PROTECTION PARTIE HAUTE PORTAIL
protecthautport
wheat
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

PROTECTION PARTIE BASSE PORTAIL
protectbasport
green
see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

DISPOSITIF DE SURVEILLANCE
surveil

see 'Base de donnees WP4 (FNE)(1).xlsx'

scoretot

sol + sysferm + ntotouv + parcours + solparc + surveil+ natureparc + hautparc + protechautparc+ protecbasparc

nrow

useless: actually used for data extraction from an intermediate file not provided

newID

unique identifier for each record

durobsdeb

beginning of the survey

durobsend

end of the survey

durobs

duration of the survey (days)

alldeg

number of damage event (any cause)

foxdeg

number of damage event (fox or likely fox)

natureparc

score computed from grey rows combined(see algorithm)

hautparc

score computed from yellow rows combined(see algorithm)

protechautparc

score computed from wheat rows combined(see algorithm)

protecbasparc

score computed from green rows combined(see algorithm)

Supplementary_material_3_scores.xlsx

Criteria for scoring henhouse conditions