Little puppies, but with better hands
I was heading back down from Santa Cruz Island's Montañon Ridge Saturday when I met a pair of hikers on the way up. I'd just seen one of the Island Foxes (the one in the photos below, to be specific), and mentioned to them that they had just missed out. They half laughed and half rolled their eyes, and said, "Oh, we've seen plenty of foxes."
The Channel Island Fox is one of the conservation movement's great success stories. Fifteen years ago, four of the six varieties (one for each island they live on) were almost extinct, the victim of an ecological chain reaction that began when DDT wiped out the bald eagles that lived on the islands. Golden eagles flew over from the mainland and filled the gap in the food chain - but they eat land animals, whereas bald eagles eat fish. They saw the foxes as snack food, and the foxes, who had never had to worry about bald eagles, didn't know they needed to get under cover. The Catalina foxes also took an enormous hit from an outbreak of distemper, caught from the dogs that live there. By the turn of the century, Catalina, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands only had a few dozen foxes left.
That's when the recovery effort started. They had to round up the remaining foxes and put them someplace where they could be fruitful and multiply in safety. Then they had to round up the golden eagles and take them back to the mainland, where they belong. They also sent hunters out to kill off a population of pigs, feral descendants of livestock brought to the islands in the 19th century. (Not everyone liked that idea, but reportedly the pigs were attracting golden eagles, trampling indigenous plants and damaging Chumash archeological sites.) And finally, they had to restore the bald eagle population, so the golden eagles wouldn't come back. That's still in progress. (You can even follow their progress on the National Park Service's Bald Eagle Webcam.) It was a tremendous effort, but it worked. Last year the foxes on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel were taken off the Endangered Species list, and the ones on Catalina were upgraded to "threatened." They still have extra challenges because of the people and dogs they share the island with.
But in the struggle to save the Island Fox, everyone forgot something about them. Something the campers I talked to had clearly learned.
Island Foxes can be real jerks.
For starters, they're completely unafraid of people. I've never seen a wild animal act so blasé about being around humans. They're not necessarily friendly - they won't run up and greet you, and I wouldn't want to try touching one. You just don't seem to matter to them. The one I ran into on the trail just stood there looking at me for a moment (allowing me to take its picture), and then went on its way. Another one I came across was lounging in a clearing near the visitors' center, grooming itself without really worrying about the people stopping to see it.
It's when the foxes take that attitude into a campground full of people carrying a lot of food that they start to get obnoxious. When I passed through on Saturday, I saw two foxes that had become professional moochers, roaming around as if they owned the place (which, I suppose, they do) and looking for any chance to bust into someone's things and help themselves to a meal. The Park Service has installed metal "fox boxes" for people to store their food in, because the foxes have learned how to get into backpacks and other containers.
One camper said they were like "really big squirrels." Another said they were "like little puppies, but with better hands." I even shot some video of their exploits.
Of course, it's not as if the humans don't encourage them. Just this morning, my assistant in day-job land was asking me if lots of people feed the foxes, because he thought that would be fun to do. Actually, the Park Service discourages people from feeding the foxes, because they don't want the foxes being dependent on human handouts. Besides, human food isn't healthy for them. That's one of the reasons the Catalina foxes are still considered "threatened." I must say, the fox I saw on the trail looked less scraggly than the two I saw in the campground, so maybe there's something to it.
I hadn't seen any foxes last year, either in my day on Santa Cruz Island in July or my two days on Catalina in September, so I was really glad to see some this time. And if I ever make it to the other islands where foxes live (Anacapa and Santa Barbara are the only ones without any), I hope I'll get to see more.
The Channel Island Fox is one of the conservation movement's great success stories. Fifteen years ago, four of the six varieties (one for each island they live on) were almost extinct, the victim of an ecological chain reaction that began when DDT wiped out the bald eagles that lived on the islands. Golden eagles flew over from the mainland and filled the gap in the food chain - but they eat land animals, whereas bald eagles eat fish. They saw the foxes as snack food, and the foxes, who had never had to worry about bald eagles, didn't know they needed to get under cover. The Catalina foxes also took an enormous hit from an outbreak of distemper, caught from the dogs that live there. By the turn of the century, Catalina, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands only had a few dozen foxes left.
That's when the recovery effort started. They had to round up the remaining foxes and put them someplace where they could be fruitful and multiply in safety. Then they had to round up the golden eagles and take them back to the mainland, where they belong. They also sent hunters out to kill off a population of pigs, feral descendants of livestock brought to the islands in the 19th century. (Not everyone liked that idea, but reportedly the pigs were attracting golden eagles, trampling indigenous plants and damaging Chumash archeological sites.) And finally, they had to restore the bald eagle population, so the golden eagles wouldn't come back. That's still in progress. (You can even follow their progress on the National Park Service's Bald Eagle Webcam.) It was a tremendous effort, but it worked. Last year the foxes on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel were taken off the Endangered Species list, and the ones on Catalina were upgraded to "threatened." They still have extra challenges because of the people and dogs they share the island with.
But in the struggle to save the Island Fox, everyone forgot something about them. Something the campers I talked to had clearly learned.
Island Foxes can be real jerks.
For starters, they're completely unafraid of people. I've never seen a wild animal act so blasé about being around humans. They're not necessarily friendly - they won't run up and greet you, and I wouldn't want to try touching one. You just don't seem to matter to them. The one I ran into on the trail just stood there looking at me for a moment (allowing me to take its picture), and then went on its way. Another one I came across was lounging in a clearing near the visitors' center, grooming itself without really worrying about the people stopping to see it.
It's when the foxes take that attitude into a campground full of people carrying a lot of food that they start to get obnoxious. When I passed through on Saturday, I saw two foxes that had become professional moochers, roaming around as if they owned the place (which, I suppose, they do) and looking for any chance to bust into someone's things and help themselves to a meal. The Park Service has installed metal "fox boxes" for people to store their food in, because the foxes have learned how to get into backpacks and other containers.
One camper said they were like "really big squirrels." Another said they were "like little puppies, but with better hands." I even shot some video of their exploits.
Of course, it's not as if the humans don't encourage them. Just this morning, my assistant in day-job land was asking me if lots of people feed the foxes, because he thought that would be fun to do. Actually, the Park Service discourages people from feeding the foxes, because they don't want the foxes being dependent on human handouts. Besides, human food isn't healthy for them. That's one of the reasons the Catalina foxes are still considered "threatened." I must say, the fox I saw on the trail looked less scraggly than the two I saw in the campground, so maybe there's something to it.
I hadn't seen any foxes last year, either in my day on Santa Cruz Island in July or my two days on Catalina in September, so I was really glad to see some this time. And if I ever make it to the other islands where foxes live (Anacapa and Santa Barbara are the only ones without any), I hope I'll get to see more.
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