Good News for Island Foxes

The numbers are gradually coming in from the biologists on the six Channel Islands that are home to the island fox. On the four islands where island foxes are endangered, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina, the populations continue to increase.

Each autumn, island foxes are counted by trapping them in specially designed containment traps. This allows biologists to determine the number of island foxes on each island, check their health, give them vaccinations for distemper and rabies, and fit radio tracking collars.

For more on Health Checks on Catalina Foxes.

Last year the number of island foxes physically counted on Santa Catalina Island was 365. This year over 500 have been individually counted!

Endangered island fox populations are recovering successfully on all four islands, but we still have a long way to go to reach the population numbers before disease struck Santa Catalina Island and ecosystem imbalance resulted in golden eagles hunting island foxes on the northern islands. Why are island foxes endangered?

Island fox recovery has been possible because of broad reaching conservation efforts on their behalf.

You can help !

Donations To Friends of the Island Fox Help:

• purchase radio collars to monitor wild island foxes. Learn More
  
• supply vaccinations against disease transmitted from domestic dogs and species transported onto the islands. Learn More
  
• fund necropsies to study the cause of death in island foxes. Learn More
  
• support education programs to teach school children and community groups about this local endangered species and the Channel Island Ecosystem. Learn More
  

You can Donate by clicking on the PayPal or Network for Good buttons at the top right corner.

Stay Linked In. As soon as the final population numbers are available, we will post them here on the Friends of the Island Fox website.

For detailed information on each island fox population as well as research summaries, video and podcasts - Click on the Library button in the directory bar.

Counting Island Foxes

If you are a fox biologist on the Channel Islands, late summer through early autumn is a busy season. During this short window of time, island fox populations are counted and individual animals receive health check-ups. To get their hands on these pint-sized, but sharp-toothed predators, special box-type traps are put out in specific areas.

In September, Friends of the Island Fox rode along with Julie King, fox biologist for the Catalina Island Conservancy. The day on Santa Catalina Island started very early, because all of the traps on a string must be checked before the day starts to get warm.

Most foxes are captured in the evening or during the night. Even so, the traps are set in shaded spots so that a fox won’t become overheated. Each trap has a covering over the top and grass or hay inside to make it more comfortable

The fox is first identified by its “pit tag.” A scanner responds to the microchip tag and displays the animals identification number.

Endangered island foxes on Santa Catalina, San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands are given microchip identification tags like those you would use on your pet dog. The fox in the trap is scanned with the microchip reader to identify it. In this way, the biologist knows when the fox was last caught and whether or not it needs vaccinations, a health check or radio collar maintenance.

If the fox does not have a microchip or pit tag, it will receive one.

If it has already been caught this season and has had its health check, the biologist will release the fox and reset the trap. If not, then the island fox will spend 15-20 minutes with the biologist getting a full health workup.

Join us November 20th for an audio podcast as biologist Julie King does a health check on an island fox.