THE State Government has commissioned a major review of the $56 million Fox Free Taskforce.

The Tasmanian newspaper The Mercury this morning reports that the high-level review, which is yet to be announced publicly, will be conducted by invasive species experts from the New Zealand Landcare Research Group.

The group has been asked for input into the "development of an exit strategy", prompting speculation the Government is looking for ways to downgrade the costly program as it seeks to slash Budget spending.

Last month it was revealed the jobs of 20 fox eradication officers had been readvertised -- possibly to make way for less experienced staff from the soon-to-be-axed Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts.

More than 1800 fox sightings have been reported since 2002 -- 294 of them last year -- but no live foxes have been captured.

Windermere MLC Ivan Dean, an outspoken critic of the taskforce, said it appeared the Government was beginning to have doubts about the program.

"Very clearly the Government has concerns to be taking this course of action," Mr Dean said.

News of the review also comes amid new doubts about the origin of fox scats claimed to have been found in Tasmania.

The samples contained evidence of brushtail possum, ringtail possum, Bennett's or red-neck wallaby, eastern grey kangaroo, eastern barred bandicoot and quoll -- which are all species present on the mainland.

However, the scat contained no evidence of the endemic pademelon, which is common across Tasmania.

That was despite the species being found in the scats of other predators such as dogs, feral cats and devils, also collected by the taskforce.

Veterinary pathologist David Obendorf said the lack of pademelon evidence in the scats raised the possibility that they were imported from interstate by an unscrupulous hoaxer.

"It is an anomaly," Dr Obendorf said.

"From a scientific point of view you need to link the fox scats to the environment to build credibility that foxes are actually here."

But scat expert Barbara Triggs, who analysed the samples, said the absence of pademelon was not surprising because of the small number of scats collected.

"I have had no reason to think that the fox scats I have analysed from Tasmanian sources did not come from Tasmania," Dr Triggs said.

"I would expect the pademelon to appear in fox scats when a larger sample is analysed."

The terms of reference for the taskforce review include:

* Evaluate progress towards the program's goals and objectives, including whether the program design and expenditure profile is the most cost-effective approach to eradication.

* Review investment and effort in detection and monitoring, research and analysis and reporting and communication activities.

* Consider other approaches and techniques.

Mr Dean questioned why the Government had rushed to set up the inquiry when the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee was considering almost identical terms of reference.

"Is it because of pressures in the Budget?" he said.

"Are they looking for ways and means of decreasing expenditure and still meeting needs of the branch?

"Primary Industries and Water Minister David Llewellyn was tight-lipped about the review yesterday but said findings were expected to be handed down by the end of the month.

"We have 10-year funding in place for this program at $2.5 million per year with matching contributions from the Commonwealth," Mr Llewellyn said.

"We are in discussion with the Commonwealth regarding their component this year."