http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7150338.stm

"Culling badgers in order to control bovine tuberculosis (bTB) can
cause a doubling in fox numbers, UK government scientists have found.

This could impact on livestock farming and conservation, the authors
write in Biology Letters journal. "

Hardly surprising - foxes too eat a lot of earthworms and small
mammals. They are in competition with badgers for a lot of the food.

Now, there seems to be no reason why foxes cannot spread TB, so maybe
we should organise a regular cull of foxes, probably in the winter
when arable land is not in use. To avoid problems of global warming we
could ensure that the team only travelled on horseback, and to avoid
leaving deposits of lead in the environment we could use an organised
biological control instead of shooting them. And for safety perhaps
those leading this cull could wear brightly coloured clothing. The
police wear yellow reflective jackets, so some other bright colour
would seem sensible to avoid confusion.