 In Australia, 2012 estimates indicate that there are more than 7.2 million red foxes with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland.It became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s in the British colonies of Van Diemen's Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845) for the purpose of the traditional English sport of fox hunting.A permanent red fox population was not established on the island of Tasmania and it is widely held that they were out-competed by the Tasmanian devil.