The program to recover the island fox population on Santa Cruz Island has taken a major step forward this summer. Island foxes born in the captive breeding facility located on the island are being released into the wild as part of the overall recovery program for the species. Funded by The Nature Conservancy, the individuals are being released under a reintroduction plan developed by IWS and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Foxes are being released into areas that currently have no or only a few resident foxes. The hope is that these released animals will occupy this vacant habitat and begin to breed next season.

The foxes are equipped with telemetry collars that allow IWS biologists to keep track of their movements and document their survival. Supplemental feeding stations are placed in the release area to provide food for the foxes to make the transition from captivity to the wild as easy as possible. The foxes are also periodically captured in live traps to check their health status.