Santa Cruz Island Fox

The island fox is a very small fox, about the size of a house cat, that is native to six of the eight Channel Islands of California. There are six subspecies of...
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The island fox is a very small fox, about the size of a house cat, that is native to six of the eight Channel Islands of California. There are six subspecies of the fox, each unique to the island it lives on, reflecting its evolutionary history. They were nearly wiped out in the 1990's. The presence of non-native ungulates as a food source in addition to the DDT-caused decline of bald eagles, a natural competitor, facilitated the establishment of golden eagles as resident breeders on the islands. By 2000, predation on island foxes resulted in population declines to 15 individuals on San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands, and less than 80 on Santa Cruz Island. In 2004, each of the park's island fox subspecies were federally listed as endangered.

In 1999, Channel Islands National Park began an island fox recovery program that included captive breeding and reintroduction of foxes, removal of resident golden eagles, re-establishment of bald eagles, and removal of non-native ungulates. This coordinated, organized and highly focused strategy was able to reverse the certain extinction of an endangered population. Today, the population has nearly recovered within the park. Population trend and annual survival are currently monitored to ensure that recovery proceeds apace and future threats to the park's island fox subspecies are identified.
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