 Therefore, unlike other methods of controlling the fox population, it is argued that hunting with dogs resembles natural selection.The counter-argument is given that hunting cannot kill old foxes because foxes have a natural death rate of 65% per annum.In Australia, where foxes have played a major role in the decline in the number of species of wild animals, the Government's Department of the Environment and Heritage concluded that "hunting does not seem to have had a significant or lasting impact on fox numbers."