Fox Foto Friday - Beginning of the Year Surprise!

What is it? 15 refurbished radio collars!

These radio-telemetry collars, still in their packaging, have just arrived for island foxes on Santa Cruz Island. They come packaged as pairs of collars set inside each other with their antennae wrapped around. 

The Fresno Chaffee Zoo Wildlife Conservation Fund provided FIF with a special year-end grant that funded these 15 refurbished radio collars and will fund serology testing for Catalina Island foxes this summer.

We are so thankful for our fox friends at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.  

The Fresno Chaffee Zoo has been an important partner in island fox conservation since 2006 - funding radio collars, vaccinations, and island fox health investigations.

The Santa Barbara Zoo and the Fresno Chaffee Zoo have long been champions of island fox conservation. They are the perfect example of how zoos can make a real conservation difference.

After these radio collars are prepped and banded with color-coding, they will be ready to be fitted on island foxes. 

You are an important partner in island fox conservation, too. Donors like you are matching the Fresno Chaffee Zoo's grant! 

This winter donors have funded 14 refurbished collars and 2 new collars.

FIF hopes to fund 20 more radio collars this season!

Radio collars are the number one way to monitor island fox health and survival in the wild. 

Your donations help FIF provide important radio collars for island foxes!

Earth Day 2013 and the Island Fox

April means Earth Day! 

Time to go out and enjoy the outdoors. Time to make connections with local wildlife and work to make sure our wild friends have safe and healthy ecosystems.

Friends of the Island Fox will be out celebrating the successes of island fox conservation at several events this month and next. Come out and join us:


Saturday, April 13 at Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Fresno CA

FIF will have a booth at the "Party for the Planet" 9 AM - 3 PM. The Fresno Chaffee Zoo has been a great island fox friend. Last year they provided a grant to inoculate 200 island foxes against canine distemper and in prior years they have funded 20 radio monitoring collars. 

 Saturday, April 27 at the Santa Monica Mountains Science Festival at Paramount Ranch, Santa Monica National Recreation Area


FIF and the Channel Islands Park Foundation will be joining the rangers of the Channel Islands National Park at a booth. There will all kinds of information about island foxes and other island and sea creatures.

Saturday, May 18 at the Dean Dana Friendship Park Environmental Faire in San Pedro

Join FIF at the home of another endangered species, the Palos Verde blue butterfly. We'll have a booth with biofacts and activities - is your sense of smell as good as an island fox's? Come find out. 

The Los Angeles Zoo is still home to a male island fox. You can visit him and participate in Earth Day Expo on Saturday, April 20th.  

There is much to be thankful for this Earth Day, but there is still a lot of conservation work to do. Come and join in at an Earth Day 2013 event.