Today, the population has recovered within the park. This coordinated, organized and highly focused strategy was able to reverse the certain extinction of an endangered population. 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. In 2004, each of the park's island fox subspecies were federally listed as endangered. 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. 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. On San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands at Channel Islands National Park, the decline was attributed to predation by golden eagles. The island fox, a descendant of the mainland gray fox, is the largest of the Channel Islands' native mammals, but one of the smallest canid species in the world.Īlthough foxes have always existed at low population sizes, four island fox subspecies underwent catastrophic declines in the 1990s.
Each island population is recognized as a separate endemic or unique subspecies. The island fox only lives on six of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of southern California-they are found nowhere else on Earth.
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