Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars For National Fox Day

photo courtesy of NPS

Happy National Fox Day!

Meet F269, she's a young island fox on Santa Rosa Island and she's been fitted with a radio collar funded by YOU!

 Not every radio collar is funded by a single large donation. Seven of the new radio collars currently being fitted on island foxes across the northern islands were paid for by multiple small donations. 

$20 here and $50 there quickly adds up to $220 to refurbish a radio collar or $350 to purchase a new radio collar.

Bringing small donations together Friends of the Island Fox has provided 263 radio collars for island foxes over the past 16 years.

Make a Difference for Island Foxes!

19 radio collars are being refurbished RIGHT NOW. 

FIF still needs to raise funds to pay for 11 of those radio collars. 

Every little bit will help reach that $2,420 goal for island foxes.

Why are radio collars important?

See an island fox released wearing its radio collar. 

Help Island Foxes this Fox Day!

DONATE through the secure link DONATE button on the upper right of the screen.

Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars Arrive!

Radio-tracking collars have arrived at Channel Islands National Park. These new and refurbished radio collars will be going on island foxes across San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands over the next two months.

Why is there a pink ribbon? For speed and accuracy in the field

Collar identification numbers and radio frequency are originally noted on the collar band. When the bands are pre-punched with holes to fascilitate an adjustable fit on individual foxes, the numbers can become obscured. 

In the field the goal is to keep an island fox in-hand for as little time as possible. By putting the important numbers on the pink ribbon, the collar can be quickly grabbed from a bag, the ribbon taken off, the collar fitted, and the fox released. Then the collar numbers can be written on the data sheet for that individual island fox. 

 It is a brilliant and simple way to keep data accurate and release island foxes as quickly as possible.

Friends of the Island Fox just provided 15 refurbished and 15 new radio collars for the northern islands. 

But 8 of those new collars still need funding!

If you donate $350 for a new radio collar today, your collar will be going on an island fox in the next few weeks.

FIF also still needs to raise funds for 11 refurbished radio collars that will be finished in early September and ready to go on Catalina Island foxes. 

$220 refurbishes a used radio collar

$350 funds a new radio collar

Radio collars monitor island foxes in the wild, providing an early warning of disease or other threats to an entire island's population. 

When you donate to Friends of the Island Fox you can see where your donation goes

Vaccinations for Catalina Island foxes

Research

Donor Update

Won't You Be F257's Valentine?

It's February – time to help the unique island foxes that live on California's Channel Islands!

Why does Friends of the Island Fox ask for your donations? 

Funding is essential for island fox conservation.

You can help this pup.

Won't you be her Valentine?

Island fox F257 is a female 10-month-old island fox. Last summer she was captured on Santa Rosa Island during annual health checks. A sample of her blood was taken, she was micro-chipped, and a whisker was collected for diet analysis.

In December of 2019, she was fitted with a radio-tracking collar funded by FIF and had another whisker removed for analysis.  

All of this work–the examination and work by the technician; blood sample testing, the microchip, radio-tracking collar, and diagnostic research on the whiskers–requires funding.

That is where you can make a difference. We ask you to donate, so FIF can help fund important island fox conservation work across the Channel Islands in conjunction with the various island land managers.

Pup F257 has so much to tell us.

Throughout her life, when captured, her microchip reveals her identity. Her data, gathered during annual check-ups, will form her profile history. Data collected on individual foxes is valuable for researchers and understanding how to keep island fox populations healthy and stable. Her radio collar will monitor her movements and safety.

The analysis of her two whiskers will tell us how her diet has changed from a very young pup to her life at 10 months old. If the winter rains don't return and F257 faces her first year in drought conditions, will she change her diet? FIF's Research Grant recipients are investigating important science on island fox health. Are foxes finding adequate nutritional food in their island ecosystem? Can we expect F257 to live a lifespan of 8–12 years?

This young pup is starting her life on Santa Rosa Island. You can be part of her success. Your donation will help make sure she is watched over and healthy.

You Can Help Island Foxes with Radio Collars

These island fox radio collars have gone to the shop to be refurbished. They have been chewed on, rubbed on rocks, and used as teething bars by island fox pups. But, with your help these collars can be repaired and used to help island foxes, again.

Radio-tracking collars protect whole islands of island foxes.

Radio-tracking collars can also be used for specific situations:

• helping to reunite a lost pup with its parents
• following an island fox rehabilitating from wildfire injuries
• monitoring an island fox recovering from a serious injury

Which foxes wear radio-tracking collars?
 
Soon the radio collars above will be renewed and ready for the field. Before they can start making a difference, Friends of the Island Fox needs to pay for them. 

Refurbishing these 20 radio collars costs over $4,000

Your donation can help put these radio collars back on a wild island fox. 

Please DONATE TODAY 

to help monitor island foxes all year long.

This Island Fox Pup Needs You!

Across the Channel Islands, winter rains have renewed the native island plants and increased food resources for island foxes. 

2019 should be a good year for island fox pups!

Most island foxes are born in April. For the first several months of their lives, they depend on their mother for milk. Both parents will then bring food to the youngsters back at the den. Pups, generally, emerge in June and over the summer their parents teach them how to hunt and find native fruit. Healthy island fox parents have a head start in raising healthy pups.

You can help keep island foxes healthy and safe. 

This year the need for radio-tracking collars is greater than ever.

On each island 50–60 island foxes wear radio-tracking collars. Each year 30% to 50% of the collars need to be replaced or refurbished.

 

In 2019, Friends of the Island Fox is trying to fund:

• Over 30 refurbished radio collars - $220 each
• And 10 new radio collars - $350 each

island fox is vaccinated during health check

These radio collars will be assigned to island foxes this summer and fall during annual counting and health checks. A radio-tracking collar monitors an island fox's movements and signals to biologists when an island fox has died. Radio-tracking collars provide the first alert that disease, parasites, or unexpected predators have killed an island fox.

The sooner biologists can respond to a new threat, the more island foxes can be protected.

Friends of the Island Fox is also helping to fund important investigations into new health threats facing island foxes:

• Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses
• intestinal parasites that are causing island fox deaths
• diseases introduced to the islands by people, pets, and transported wildlife

photo courtesy of Inge Rose

Foxes need your help with science-based solutions.

• $25 tests a tick sample for 5 diseases
• $50 checks two blood samples
• $100 analyzes diet from 10 whisker samples
• $220 refurbishes a used radio collar
• $350 funds a new radio collar

Island foxes need all of us to help assure the pups of 2019 grow up in a healthy island fox community.

Please DONATE today

Island Fox M152 Gets a Radio Collar!

photo courtesy of CINP / NPS

Meet M152! 

This male island fox just got a radio collar funded by donations to Friends of the Island Fox.

Do you see it? 

It's that bit of black just under his chin and above the biologist's gloved hand.

This radio collar will allow biologists to monitor M152 without interfering with his normal wild life. He can be checked-on from a distance by a technician with an antennae and receiver or even from a small plane flying over the island. 

Refurbished radio collars - headed to island foxes

M152's radio-tracking collar emits a unique radio-signal frequency just for him. 

Hear - Normal radio collar

His collar locates his position and reports that he is moving around normally. If M152 should stop moving for 4-6 hours–not move at all–the radio collar will give off a different signal. Hear - Distress alert from radio collar The rapid beep alerts biologists that something might have happened to him. The radio collar then enables biologists to hone in on the little fox body so they can find out what has happened.

M152's newly refurbished radio collar will provide information on his activity for the next 2-3 years.

Radio-tracking collars are vitally important to monitoring island fox populations across the islands. In 2018, donors like you helped Friends of the Island Fox fund a record 25 radio collars:

• 20 refurbished radio collars - $220 each
• 5 new radio collars - $350 each

On each island approximately 20 radio collars need to be refurbished or purchased new each year. 

In 2019 FIF's GOAL is to refurbish 20-30 radio collars 

and purchase 10 new collars

Won't you help with this vital effort to monitor island foxes! 

You've helped us save island foxes from extinction. 

Please donate to help keep island foxes safe and healthy.

Stay tuned. M152 also got a health check. 

Find out what we learned about him.