Island Fox Happenings

April is a busy time for island foxes and Friends of the Island Fox. 

Out on the islands female foxes are searching for the perfect den site in between rocks or under vegetation. They are looking for just the right spot because April is the month that many island fox pups are born. (more on island fox pups)  Keep checking back to islandfox.org for a birth announcement mid-April. We're waiting for a special island fox to be born and you'll get to follow along as it grows up via Twitter.


Friends of the Island Fox will also be helping to...

Celebrate California Wildlife 

at the  

Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden
Earth Day Expo 

on Saturday and Sunday, April 9th and 10th

from 10 AM - 4 PM

Come by and visit us and the Zoo's live island fox. There will be Fox Talks at the island fox exhibit at 12 PM and 2:30 PM. We will also be doing radio tracking demonstrations throughout the day. 

Road Signs to Save Island Foxes

courtesy of Kevin Pease

Over the Holiday Season important donations came in to fund three “Watch for Foxes” road signs.  In the past few years cars have become the most common cause of death for island foxes. While the northern islands have few cars operated only by National Park and Nature Conservancy officials, Santa Catalina has a number of roads and a variety of people driving on them. The two Navy islands, San Clemente and San Nicolas, also have roads with fast-moving vehicles.

This autumn several island foxes lost their lives on Santa Catalina Island along the road from the airport into Avalon. These “Watch for Foxes” signs will help remind drivers to slow down and be especially vigilant when driving this section of road.

Because of the island fox’s small size, it can be hard to see before it darts onto a road. The fox’s mottled gray coloring with tinges of russet, provide amazing camouflage in island chaparral and grass.  Especially at twilight, even careful drivers can sometimes accidentally strike an island fox crossing the road. While female island foxes usually stay near their parent’s territory, young males may travel great distances looking for territories of their own. These adventuring teenage boys tend to be inexperienced and many have their lives cut short along dangerous roadsides.

Accidents can happen. Drivers on Santa Catalina, San Nicolas and San Clemente are reminded that it is important to report incidents where island foxes are believed to be hit by cars. Injured animals can not be helped if accidents are not reported and the body of an animal killed by a car may provide important medical information if the carcass is collected in a timely manner.

Hopefully with the new “Watch for Foxes” signs funded by donations to Friends of the Island Fox this Holiday Season, island foxes will be safer along island roads this spring. 

Fox Radio Collars Help Determine Effects of Motorcycle Race

Female island fox wearing her new GPS collar

We often talk about how radio-tracking collars on endangered island foxes provide an important early warning sign of disease or unnatural predators on the Channel Islands. Importance of radio collars

In December, radio tracking collars and special GPS tracking collars provided important information on island fox locations and activity during the Catalina Grand Prix motorcycle event.

Catalina Island Conservancy biologists were able to determine the location of island foxes near the race event, track fox activity during the event and determine that no foxes were directly injured by motorcyclists. At the end of January, the island foxes with GPS collars will be captured again so that detailed information can be downloaded from their GPS collars. These high-tech collars record location data every 75 minutes. By putting these special collars on a group of island foxes before the motorcycle race, movement behavior was documented prior to the race, during the race event and for several weeks following the event.

When the full data is collected and analyzed the biologists will be able to determine if the race changed the animals’ behavior and how long it took for the foxes to return to their normal movement patterns.

This is a great example of how technology can help us make better choices in our interactions with wildlife, especially endangered species like island foxes.

Friends of the Island Fox Joins Channel Islands Park Foundation

As we venture into 2011 Friends of the Island Fox is joining with the Channel Islands Park Foundation, the non-profit foundation that supports Channel Islands National Park. 

This new relationship will expand our ability to educate the local community about the endangered island fox and its connection with the Channel Island ecosystem. School programs will continue and grow to include additional island topics. We will continue to support conservation efforts and research across all six of the California islands that are home to the island fox. 

As we begin this New Year we thank all of the our island fox friends who have helped us fund our end-of-the-year conservation goals:

• a total of 60 radio tracking collars for island foxes
• several new "Watch for Foxes" road signs
• support for annual rabies and distemper vaccinations

Your donations will continue to work directly for island fox conservation. Please note that when you use the "Donation" buttons at the upper right, donations will be processed through the Channel Islands Park Foundation but will be designated for the Friends of the Island Fox program.

Give a Unique Holiday Gift - Saving an Island Fox

photo courtesy of Kevin Schafer

You can give the gift of saving an endangered species. Donations to Friends of the Island Fox go directly to conservation efforts in the field to continue the successful recovery of island foxes.

The island fox pictured on the ground is wearing a radio tracking collar.  To date members of the community like you have funded 56 radio tracking collars that allow field biologists to track island fox activity and respond quickly when an individual island fox dies. Early response enables scientists to determine the cause of death: golden eagle attack, disease, car strike or something unexpected. The faster biologists can respond to a specific threat, the quicker appropriate action can be taken to protect living island foxes.

Helping island foxes can take many forms:

• $250 funds a radio tracking collar on an individual island fox for one year
• $120 puts a “Watch for Foxes” sign along an area of road where foxes are being hit by cars. This is currently the number one cause of island fox fatality on Santa Catalina, San Clemente and San Nicolas Islands. (Five signs are currently needed on Santa Catalina.)
• $50 provides the necessary testing of a blood sample to determine whether young island foxes are developing immunity to naturally occurring diseases
• $10 vaccinates an island fox against its two greatest threats - rabies and distemper.
• $10 provides for an identification microchip for an individual island fox

General donations to Friends of the Island Fox support our education efforts in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. (Island Fox Ambassador Schools, Island Fox in the Classroom, Community Fox Talk Programs) Long-term population recovery demands that local citizens understand the threats to island foxes and the important role foxes and people play in maintaining a balanced ecosystem on the islands. You can play an active role in the continued success of saving the island fox by donating today.

Good News For Channel Island Foxes

Autumn is always a busy time for biologists working to save the endangered island fox on the California Channel Islands. This is the time of year when island foxes are caught, counted and given health checks. Early reports from the islands have been very positive. (Santa Catalina Island fox numbers)

photo courtesy of Kevin Schafer

Biologist Tim Coonan from Channel Islands National Park believes that the San Miguel Island fox population may have recovered to its pre-decline levels. This would be fantastic news and a tribute to all of the National Park employees, government agencies, public and private institutions and local citizens that worked so hard to save this critically endangered mammal.


In 2000, only 15 island foxes remained on San Miguel Island. More on San Miguel. The journey to reestablishing that population to over 400 individuals is now documented in a new book written by the biologists who were in the field saving the island fox.


Decline and Recovery of the Island Fox: A Case Study for Population Recovery 
by Timothy J. Coonan, Catherin A. Schwemm and David K. Garcelon. (Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation, 2010)


The book provides a scholarly account of island fox biology, the crisis that caused the island fox population to plummet on four separate islands and the actions that were taken to save this rare species from extinction. It looks at the ecological impact on the islands when the island fox population was crashing and the role that public education plays in conservation efforts.


The recovery of the endangered island fox is a conservation success story and a model for other threatened plants and animals. Friends of the Island Fox celebrates the publication of this important book with our friends Tim Coonan, Catherin Schwemm and Dave Garcelon. Tim was instrumental in conveying the need for an education organization to Friends of the Island Fox founder Pat Meyer, Cathy served on our Board of Directors for four years, and Dave has frequently been a valued source for information.


If you are a serious student of ecology and endangered species, you may want to put this book on your gift list. Link To Book

Raccoons Don't Belong on Channel Islands

When is a cute raccoon a serious threat? When it is mistakenly transported to the Channel Islands.

The masked face of a raccoon makes us sigh and their antics can make us laugh, but raccoons pose a serious threat to native wildlife on the Channel Islands. Raccoons are not native to our California islands. Species like the island fox, spotted skunk and island birds have all evolved without raccoons and without the diseases and parasites that raccoons can carry.

Recent research has pointed to a raccoon as the origin of the distemper virus that nearly wiped out the island fox population on Santa Catalina Island between 1998-2000. Raccoons carry many diseases, like rabies, parvo and distemper, that are fatal to canines. The introduction of a single disease-infected raccoon could have drastic consequences for endangered island foxes and other unique island species. Support vaccinations.

How does a raccoon get all the way from Los Angeles or Santa Barbara to the Channel Islands?

In the past few years, raccoon populations have grown in harbor areas. This means that occasionally they wander onto private boats. Unsuspecting boat owners may have a stowaway raccoon that they unknowingly transport to the islands. While this scenario may seem unbelievable, it has happened on Catalina Island several times in the last two years. Because Catalina is fairly populated and Avalon is the primary port of entry, the Catalina Island Conservancy has been alerted to the arrival of  these raccoons. Usually the animal is caught within a short window of time, but one raccoon traveled to the interior of the island in just three days.

A raccoon accidentally introduced to Channel Islands National Park might go undetected for sometime, potentially coming in contact with numerous island animals.

Friends of the Island Fox urges all boat owners traveling to any of the Channel Islands to make sure there are no stowaway animals on your boat before leaving the harbor. Pass this information on to friends and family that may be boaters along the southern California coast.

Download the following Raccoon Awareness Flyer from the Catalina Island Conservancy and PASS IT ON. 

Public awareness can make the difference between survival and extinction for the endangered Channel Island fox.

Great News for the Island Fox From Catalina Island

Autumn is the time for counting island foxes across the Channel Islands and providing them with health checks. Early word from our friends at the Catalina Island Conservancy is that island fox numbers are up and they may see their population reach a 1000 this year! 


Considering that the Catalina Island fox was nearly wiped out by the introduction of the distemper virus in the late 1990s, the rebounding of the wild population is a huge success story. Friends of the Island Fox has participated in this recovery by funding radio tracking collars for island foxes on Catalina.


The CIC has posted a wonderful slide show of the whole capturing and health check process. Click HERE to visit the slide show.

Read more about Island Fox Health Checks and listen to biologist Julie King as she does a health check in the field.


Friends of the Fox offers an interactive Fox Health Check Presentation to teach children and adults about the island fox and the work biologists actually do in the field. 

To contact us regarding programs about the island fox: 805 228-4123 or admin@islandfox.org

Be a Friend of the Island Fox

How can you help the endangered island fox?

Everyday humans create mounds of trash. Too often that trash washes off sidewalks into gutters, down storm drains and into the ocean. Bits of plastic are dropped on the ground. Plastic bags swirl in the wind and end up in streams and seas.


A cast off fishing lure left on a rock can mean a horrible injury for a hungry island fox. Fox and the Fishing Hook


A plastic bag or balloon can be mistaken for a jellyfish by a hungry sea turtle.


Bits of plastic on the beach can get swept into the ocean by the incoming tide. Once plastic enters the ocean, fish and birds mistake the colorful bits for food. When they eat the toxic plastics it can mean their death or it can mean they are no longer healthy food for other animals in the foodweb like island foxes and humans.


Friends of the Island Fox is joining forces with the Channel Islands Park Foundation to clean-up the beach near the Channel Island National Park Visitor Center.

Join Us For:

Coastal Clean-Up Day

Sat. September 25, 2010

9 AM - Noon 

For More Information

Friends of the Island Fox Funds Radio Collar #56

August 2010 brings exciting news and support for the island fox.
 

Island Fox Friends from Fresno Chaffee Zoo visit Santa Cruz Island

For the third year in a row the Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s Conservation Committee has awarded a conservation grant to Friends of the Island Fox.

The $1,000.00 grant will fund four radio collars to be worn by endangered island foxes on the northern islands. 

Radio collars provide biologists with information on where island foxes are living  and whether or not they are alive. (See Catalina Island Fire) If an island fox stops moving for 6 hours, the radio collar changes its regular transmission pattern to a “mortality beep.” This allows biologists to recover the body quickly and determine the cause of death (Necropsy).

Island foxes with radio collars provide the first alert that a golden eagle has returned to the Channel Islands, that disease has been introduced, or that some other unnatural situation could be impacting island foxes. See Fire Fox and The Island Fox and the Fishing Hook. This past spring, several island foxes were killed when a golden eagle returned to the island. (Santa Rosa)

With the grant funds provided by the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Friends of the Island Fox has now funded 56 island fox radio collars: 42 for the northern islands in Channel Islands National Park and 14 for the southern island of Santa Catalina.

While island foxes on Santa Rosa Island faced additional challenges this year, populations are successfully recovering on San Miguel, Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands.  A major part of that recovery is community involvement. Each island fox wearing a radio collar has a story and many of those stories begin with proactive people.

56 Radio Collars - Each one represents a personal donation, a community group like the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates, or the energy and conviction of a Fox Ambassador School.

You too can help save the endangered island fox by supporting conservation efforts and Friends of the Island Fox.