Disrupting an ecosystem

Until the 1990s, the native four-pound fox—smaller than a house cat—thrived on the small island off the coast of California, free from predators. Revered and culturally significant for indigenous peoples who first inhabited the islands, the Santa Cruz Island fox was the island’s top dog for thousands of years.

Their resulting naiveté makes them appealing to humans but also more vulnerable to voracious new threats.

So when the feral pigs, which attracted non-native golden eagles, began roaming the island, the unsuspecting foxes made easy prey.

When the population catastrophically fell from 1,500 to fewer than 100, The Nature Conservancy—together with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Institute for Wildland Studies —launched the Island Fox Recovery Program, an intensive, science-based recovery effort to save the island fox.