Island Fox Teaching Trunk

Teachers and educators 

you can check out the Friends of the Island Fox 

Teaching Trunk!

The self-contained, lockable trunk comes with a variety of biofacts, like skull replicas and footprint casts. Students can compare the island fox to its ancestor species the gray fox or to larger relatives like the coyote and the gray wolf. Compare bald eagle and golden eagle skulls and eggs. How do they match up to the island fox?

The trunk also comes with a notebook of educational activities, videos, island species information and even art projects.

Create a story using footprints from predator and prey animals on the Channel Islands. Cast prints of fox footprints or make origami foxes.

The Teaching Trunk is checked out on a first-come basis for a two week interval. Check out is FREE but an individual will need to sign an agreement of responsibility for the return of items. 

Schools involved with the     Fox Ambassador Program or with scheduled classroom visits receive priority.

To check out the Teaching Trunk e-mail Keri at islandfoxnews@gmail.com



To schedule a Friends of the Island Fox presentation contact Pat at pat@islandfox.org

Education and the Channel Island Fox

photo courtesy of Inge Rose

You can’t care about an animal and its ecosystem if you don’t know about it.

This year Friends of the Island Fox programs reached:

• Over 1,200 students in classrooms across Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.
• Our volunteers provided “Fox Talk” presentations to over 1,500 children and adults in community groups, nature centers, state parks and at Channel Islands National Park.

More about FIF programs

Understanding the importance of this small little fox as a keystone predator on the islands has inspired students and people across the country to help fund island fox conservation.

• Fox Ambassador Schools
• El Segundo Ladies Golf Club
• Fort Collins, CO Foxes Baseball Club

Education is one of our primary goals and your donations to Friends of the Island Fox make it possible for us to provide education programs.

Each classroom offers the opportunity to teach our next generation about the native plants and animals that are their neighbors. Local wildlife depends on human neighbors that respect and value the environment. 

FIF also grew its participation in continuing adult education through our relationship with Road Scholar. Our programs on the Channel Island fox have become an important part of Road Scholar’s adventures to Coastal California and Channel Islands National Park. http://www.roadscholar.org
 

photo courtesy of Paul Bronstein

This holiday you can give the gift of education by supporting Friends of the Island Fox in someone’s honor.

Give the Gift of Saving a Species

photo courtesy of NPS volunteer Inge Rose

Across San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands, island fox numbers are rising. Populations that hovered just above extinction, with just 15 individual animals, are climbing toward recovery.


This Holiday Season you can give the gift of helping support island fox recovery.

$250 funds a radio-collar for an island fox
To date Friends of the Island Fox has funded 47 radio-tracking collars for monitoring wild island foxes. Radio collars provide important information on island fox welfare, including the first information on threats from disease or golden eagle predation. Radio Collars.

When you sponsor a radio collar you receive information about an individual island fox, its history and current life in the wild. You are actively playing a role in island fox conservation.

$100 supports Friends of the Island Fox education programs in schools
This year alone, FIF provided FREE educational programs to 2,000 students from 3rd grade to college. The next generation is the vital connection to sustaining wild populations of island foxes. FIF in schools. Interaction with students and community.

$50 funds rabies and distemper vaccinations for 5 island foxes
Diseases transmitted from domestic pets or introduced animals pose a serious threat to island foxes. Each year island foxes are given Health Checks. In order to maintain viable populations in the face of another disease outbreak, 80 - 100 island foxes need to be vaccinated on all 6 islands.

You can play an active role in island fox recovery by donating to Friends of the Island Fox. Give a gift that makes a difference and helps to save the endangered island fox.

More on why the island fox is endangered.

The Island Fox Goes to School

March through May is a busy time for island foxes, biologists, and Friends of the Island Fox.

Spring brings fox pups that need to be fed by their parents and counted by biologists in the field. It also is the time for Earth Day events.

For the second year, Friends of the Island Fox participated in the Rio Vista Elementary School Environmental Awareness and Career Day. FIF educators introduced fourth grade students to the island fox, a local endangered species. Students participated in a hands-on activity replicating an island fox health check. They became field biologists weighing, evaluating and recording health data. (More on island fox health checks)

Education can be exciting and fun. Check out Rio Vista Elementary's exciting event on Santa Clarita Valley TV
http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvnews-current.html

The first step in saving an endangered species is educating the local community. Education can come in a variety of approaches, activities and interactions. Friends of the Island Fox is devoted to educating the public, young and old, in creative and relevant ways. The more you know about the island fox, the better neighbor you can be to this endangered species.

To contact Friends of the Island Fox about classroom or community programs:
(805) 386-0386

admin@islandfox.org or islandfoxnews@gmail.com