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Friday, July 21, 2023

Radio Collars and Vaccines Arrive for Island Foxes


Island fox populations are stable across the Channel Islands, but recovery is only as sustainable as our participation in protecting them from introduced threats.

Radio Monitoring

Radio-tracking collars remain the best technology for monitoring island fox survival. These collars allow biologists to determine from a distance that an island fox is alive and active in its habitat. If something happens to a fox and it stops moving for 6 hrs, the radio collar signal changes, alerting biologists that something has happened to that individual island fox. Quick response to the death of a collared fox allows new diseases or other threats to be discovered early–protecting the rest of the uncollared population. 

New and refurbished radio collars have just arrived.

  • 5 new and 15 refurbished radio collars for Santa Cruz Island
  • 24 refurbished radio collars for Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands

44 radio collars will be fitted on island foxes over the next few months. They were funded through:

 

Vaccinations Against Distemper and Rabies

Despite vaccine price increases, you helped FIF raise the $13,571 needed to vaccinate 650 island foxes in 2023.

Vaccine for rabies and canine distemper has gone out to Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Catalina Islands. On the three northern islands, 100 foxes will be vaccinated during health checks, while 350 island foxes will be vaccinated on Catalina. Why are more foxes vaccinated on Catalina?

It takes a community to vaccinate island foxes:

Every donation makes a difference for island fox survival.