Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Radio Collar Milestone !

courtesy of Kevin Schafer
This summer:

Friends of the Island Fox 

funded its  

90th radio tracking collar
for island foxes  !

Tracking collars, like the one slightly visible on the picture at the left, are worn by island foxes across the four islands where they are considered endangered: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands. (Look for the brown of the collar just below the fox's white cheek patch and the antennae rising up behind its ear and going over its back.) Why are radio collars important?

This rare species of fox is found only on California's Channel Islands. Where do island foxes live?

In the year 2000, four of the subspecies faced extinction. But through the joint efforts of conservation organizations, government agencies, involved local citizens of all ages and dedicated biologists in the field, all of the endangered Channel Island fox populations are recovering. What does recovery look like?

Thank you to everyone: our friends, neighbors, concerned students and global partners. You all are playing an active role in helping to save the Channel Island fox.

There is still more work to do: You can play an important roll in providing lifelong identification for an island fox. 

Find out about our 2013 Microchip Challenge.