Island Fox Ambassadors Making a Difference

Island Fox Ambassadors help island foxes by:

• educating others about island foxes
• directly supporting island fox conservation in some way
• or improving the island fox's habitat

Magic Wands for Foxes

Benjamin and Larissa in Georgia wanted to help island foxes. They handmade these magic wands and sold them. Their hard work and creative idea help fund the refurbishing of a radio collar that will be going on an island fox this summer.

Cans for Vaccinations

Kris in California became passionate about island foxes when her daughter worked as a biologist on the Channel Islands. She watched island foxes being vaccinated against canine distemper virus and rabies and understood how vital this effort is to island fox survival. 

Kris saw aluminum cans and plastic bottles being discarded as trash  and decided to help island foxes. She's created a neighborhood recycling effort and over the past three months has collect $300 worth of recyclables to vaccinate 15 island foxes.

Island Fox Ambassadors have one thing in common: a desire to help island foxes!

Age is not a requirement - Ambassadors range in age from children to foxy ladies

Ambassadors can be individuals, classes, schools, groups, or even a baseball team.

 You can be an Island Fox Amabassador, too. 

Other Island Fox Ambassadors

Support for Channel Island Fox Conservation

Carpenteria Family School Island Fox Ambassadors

The successful recovery of  Channel Island foxes from near extinction has been supported by the efforts of a broad range of people. 

When we open the mail and find a letter like this, we take heart that island foxes and the natural world have a future.

It just takes determination and action to become an Island Fox Ambassador.

• Island Fox Ambassador schools
• El Segundo Ladies Golf Club
• Fort Collins, CO Foxes Baseball Club
• Fresno Chaffee Zoo conservation grant 

Every effort helps to support healthy populations of Channel Island foxes. How will you help in 2016?

Students Helping Endangered Island Fox

Summer is a great time to visit the Channel Islands and the endangered island fox.

Island Fox Ambassadors from Carpinteria Family School

It is also a great time to contribute to island fox conservation. The students of Jan Silk's class at the Carpinteria Family School are Island Fox Ambassadors. Not only have they raised funds for island fox health checks, they participated in an additional service-learning project while visiting Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park.

During the years that Santa Cruz Island was a ranch, not only were large domestic livestock introduced to the island, so were invasive non-native plants. While the goats, pigs and sheep have been removed from Santa Cruz, the fennel and non-native grasses persist. Non-native plants typically do not provide food for wildlife and can push out the native plants. 

The students helped remove invasive fennel.

Trash left behind by visitors and campers can also be hazardous to native animals like the endangered island fox. The students gathered up any trash items they found and packed them off the island.

The students of Carpinteria Family School have shared their hearts with the endangered island fox and discovered not only California's Channel Islands but the role they can play as individuals and as a group in making a positive difference.

natural rocks on the beach on Santa Cruz Island

Friends of the Island Fox works with teachers, schools, youth groups and community organizations to build connections between people and the wildlife of the Channel Islands. 


For more on school programs and community presentations.

FIF school presentations are fully booked through June. We will begin scheduling for the next school year in Sept. To receive an e-mail regarding the schedule in 2014/15, e-mail islandfoxnews@gmail.com

Island Fox Ambassador Schools

FIF Educators with students

Across Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, school children play an important role in actively working to protect and save Channel Island foxes. Not only are these young people actively participating in efforts to protect an endangered species, they are becoming stakeholders in their local environment.

Island Fox Ambassadors are individuals, classes, groups, grades, or whole schools where the students have taken a special interest in island fox conservation and have participated in some way to help save endangered island foxes.

How big is a golden eagle?

1. First, Friends of the Island Fox educators visit the school or group and provide a presentation on the island fox and why it is endangered. Programs.
2. The young people then decide how they will contribute. Will they spread information to others, like their parents, families and friends? Will they raise funds for some aspect of island fox conservation? Will they engage in a service project on the islands?

Highlighting two 2014 Island Fox Ambassador Schools:

 

Canalino Elementary School 

Teachers Kathleen Tomscha and Monica Shugart led the 4th grade teachers at Canalino Elementary to become Island Fox Ambassadors in 2009. They established a successful program selling hot chocolate and popcorn at the school's Family Movie Night and over the years the students and teachers of Canalino Elementary have funded - 2 radio collars and 13 vaccinations.

This year, the 2nd grade students in four classes worked together and raised $88 to fund eight more island fox vaccinations.

They were excited to look at island fox and bald eagle biofacts-including skull replicas, pelts and radio collars.
 

Carpinteria Family School 

Teacher Jan Silk has encouraged her 3rd and 4th grade students to be Ambassadors since she participated in a FIF teacher workshop in 2009. This year her students made a model island fox and collected donations for the opportunity to name the fox. When Pat Meyer visited the school she reached into the container and chose the ticket with the name. Much to everyone's delight, the name was "Pat."

The students also are selling purses they have made. So far this year they have raised $120 for island fox health checks and vaccinations.

The class will be visiting Santa Cruz Island in April and participating in two service projects: removal of non-native plants and collecting data on the types of trash enticing to island foxes in the campground and public areas. Over the years Jan's classes have also funded - a "Watch for Foxes" road sign and a radio collar.

Other Ambassador Schools:

Lincoln Elementary currently working on a project.
Montecito Union Elementary, Santa Barbara - 20 vaccinations
Blackstock Middle School, Ventura - a vaccination
Santa Clara Elementary School, Los Angeles - 8 vaccinations
Buena High School Environmental Club, Ventura - radio collar
Westridge School, Pasadena - radio collar
Moorpark College Teaching Zoo, Ventura - health checks
Santa Barbara Charter School, Santa Barbara - vaccinations
St. Cyril's of Jerusalem School, Los Angeles - radio collar
Hancock Park Elementary School, Los Angeles - radio collar and enclosure improvements for the breeding facility in 2006
North Hollywood High Zoo Magnet School, Los Angeles - health check
St. Louis DeMondford High School, Santa Maria - radio collar

Channel Island Fox Heroes

courtesy National Park Service

 Many plants and animals across the country are facing challenges to their survival, but few endangered species have as many everyday heroes as the Channel Island fox.

Some heroes are the biologists and technicians that work in the field across the six Channel Islands. They count the island foxes in the wild, provide health checks and are the first line of defense protecting island foxes. Fox Biologists.

Some heroes are school children like Hannah H. and her third grade class from Montecito Union Elementary School. Hannah told her school mates about the endangered island fox and made a Fox Box to collect donations. The students from Montecito Union raised enough funds to provide a radio tracking collar for a wild island fox. Radio collars provide the second line of defense for this endangered species. (More About Radio Collars) The goal across the islands is to annually have 60-70 individual foxes on each island wearing radio collars.

Vaccinations for distemper and rabies are also vital to protecting endangered island foxes.  When Friends of the Island Fox gave presentations to the second- and third-grade students at Poinsettia Elementary School, student Shawn D. realized he could make a positive difference for this local animal. Shawn saved up his allowance to vaccinate an island fox. Vaccinations for island foxes.

2011 has been filled with heroes:

• Students at Canalino Elementary School developed their own plan to fund an island fox radio collar. Island Fox Ambassador School.
• Local restaurant Native Foods Cafe donated a percentage of a day’s sales.
• Three California zoos provided grant money (Fresno Chaffee Zoo) and education opportunities
• KLOS radio personality Cynthia Fox interviewed Friends of the Island Fox on the air and sponsored a radio collar

A huge thank you to all of our Channel Island Fox Heroes. This year you helped the endangered island fox move ever closer to recovery. (Current Population Update)

Island fox pairs are coming together across the islands. Follow Tani, the young female island fox, on twitter or facebook as she settles into her own territory and finds a mate.

Island Foxes on KLOS FM Radio

Hear Friends of the Island Fox on

Cynthia Fox's "Spotlight on the Community" 

on KLOS Radio, 95.5 FM!

Pat Meyer, Friends of the Island Fox Program Director, and Keri Dearborn, Education Director, will be on Cynthia Fox's Sunday morning program this weekend, May 28th from 6-7 AM. 

Link to KLOS "Spotlight on the Community PodCasts".

With community education and participation in conservation efforts we are saving the island fox.

For more information on school programs (K-college) contact Pat at pat@islandfox.org or (805) 228-4123. To be added to the FIF teacher contact list for program information in the fall - email: islandfoxnews@gmail.com (subject line: teacher)


Photos of island foxes
Video of island foxes
Video - island fox meets bald eagle
Fox Talk Podcasts

Island Fox Ambassadors - Canalino Elementary School

Pat Meyer and Canalino Elementary 4th grade students

What can you do with popcorn and hot chocolate?  Help save the endangered island fox!


Fourth grade students at Canalino Elementary School in Carpinteria, California have become Island Fox Ambassadors. They made posters to increase awareness about the endangered island fox and they raised funds by selling popcorn and hot chocolate at a school movie night.

The fourth grade students learned about the island fox through their teachers and a presentation by Friends of the Island Fox educators. (For information on Island Fox classroom programs call 805 228-4123 or e-mail admin@islandfox.org).

Working together the Canalino students raised a large enough donation to support a radio tracking collar for an island fox. Radio tracking collars are vital to monitoring island fox welfare across the Channel Islands. More on GPS collars.

The “Canalino collar” marks radio collar #65 supported by generous donations to Friends of the Island Fox. Part of the island fox’s rapid recovery from the brink of extinction is due to the partnership between scientists, conservationists and the public.

Friends of the Island Fox proudly adds the fourth grade students of Canalino Elementary School to our list of Island Fox Ambassadors.

The island fox is a California treasure and it needs devoted conservation ambassadors like these students to safeguard its survival into the future.

You can make a positive difference too, by supporting island fox conservation through the donation button at the top of the page.

To learn more about island foxes

Follow the adventures of Tani, an island fox on Twitter @ ifoxtweet, see box to the right, or Find us on Facebook. May 24th will mark a landmark day for this island fox pup. You won’t want to miss it!

A Box For A Fox - Blackstock Middle School Students Help Island Fox

Sixth grade students from Blackstock Middle School in Ventura, California reached out to help endangered island foxes. They made special donation boxes with the saying "A Box for A Fox."


Together the students in Mr. Mortenson's and Ms. Krause's classes collected enough money to help vaccinate island foxes against fatal diseases–rabies and canine distemper.

Blackstock Middle School joins a growing list of schools across southern California that have become Island Fox Ambassador Schools. Each class, grade or school in the Island Fox Ambassador Program participates in three steps:

1. Learning about the island fox
2. Sharing that knowledge with others
3. Participating directly in supporting island fox conservation

Friends of the Island Fox - Island Fox Ambassadors

• Westridge School, Pasadena
• Hancock Park Elementary School, Los Angeles
• Buena High School Environmental Club, Ventura
• St. Cyril’s of Jerusalem School, Los Angeles
• Santa Clara Elementary, Ventura
• Santa Barbara Charter School, Santa Barbara
• Carpenteria Family School, Santa Barbara
• Blackstock Middle School, Ventura

For more information about the Island Fox Ambassador School Program contact us at islandfoxnews@gmail.com

Ask About the Island Fox

Friends of the Island Fox offers FREE programs about the endangered island fox and the Channel Island ecosystem to school children from 3rd grade through college. Depending on participant age and group size, programs include interactive program, video of an island fox release, radio-collar tracking demonstration and hands-on materials.

More on Island Fox Ambassador Program

To schedule a classroom visit or speaker, contact us at islandfoxnews@gmail.com

As we all go Back to School, here are a few questions we have received from students.

1. How long do island foxes live?

Island foxes typically live eight to ten years in the wild. While they are not considered to be adults until age two, in some cases they do form mate pairs and have their first family before they are a year old. When wild foxes are examined by biologists, the wear and condition of the island fox’s teeth help the biologist determine the animal’s age.

More on Island Fox Health Checks

2. Can an island fox hurt a person?

The island fox is a very small member of the dog family. Their average weight is only 5 pounds and they stand just over a foot tall. They do have sharp, pointed teeth for eating insects and hunting mice and birds, but an island fox is more likely to run from people than to threaten them. An island fox will try to protect its home territory from other foxes. Some foxes have scars from territory struggles with other foxes. Island foxes sometimes bark at intruders. See the Video of a barking island fox.


3. Can an island fox handle the snow in the winter?


It rarely snows on the California Channel Islands in the winter. The ocean that surrounds the islands helps to keep the weather mild. However, it can be cold, foggy and very windy on the Channel Islands at times. Being small helps the island fox stay out of the wind and their fur is short and thick to help keep them warm. In the fog, this island fox pup's gray coat helps it blend in against the dry summer plants and the island rocks.

Do you have a question about the California Channel Island fox?

Send your questions to islandfoxnews@gmail.com