Written by Robert Browman / MediaStorm

Once teetering on the brink of extinction, the Santa Catalina Island Fox has made a dramatic recovery. 

Its resurgence marks one of the greatest conservation success stories in United States history. 

The fox, a unique subspecies of the island fox (urocyon littoralis catalinae), can only be found on Catalina Island and is one of the smallest fox species in the country, typically weighing only 4 to 6 pounds. 

In the late 1990s, a unique strain of canine distemper introduced from the mainland by a stowaway raccoon rapidly swept over the island. 

The virus decimated the island’s fox population, killing an estimated 1,200 in a single year, leaving less than 100 individuals in 1999.

The outbreak was especially severe because the foxes evolved in isolation making them vulnerable to the threat of disease, according to Katie Elder, wildlife conservation manager for the Catalina Island Conservancy. 

“They don't have exposure to a lot of diseases that would be circulating on the mainland,” Elder said. “They don't have the immune system to fight diseases.” 

Becky Rudy, conservation operations biologist for the Catalina Island Conservancy, said the fox’s nature also contributed to the depth of the outbreak. 

“Foxes are very communal,” she said. “When you have a very close community, disease can spread very quickly.” 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially designated the Catalina Island fox as an endangered species in March of 2004, along with foxes from three neighboring Channel Islands under threat from different causes. 

The subjects in this playlist represent a spectrum of voices working on scientific and conservation efforts related to the Catalina Island Fox and related environmental efforts on the island.

When the outbreak was discovered, the Institute for Wildlife Studies initiated an intensive emergency recovery program in partnership with the Catalina Island Conservancy. 

The team’s response included a captive breeding program and a large-scale vaccination campaign to protect the few remaining foxes. 

“One of the major challenges that came up is what kind of distemper vaccine to give the foxes,” Dr. Lauren Dennhardt, Ph.D., senior director of conservation for the Catalina Island Conservancy, said. 

In a rush to find a solution, distemper vaccines developed for domestic dogs were initially considered, but ultimately deemed too risky for the endangered foxes, leaving scientists scrambling for a safer alternative. 

“Luckily they were able to find this preexisting vaccine for a canine distemper that was designed for ferrets that worked on our foxes,” Rudy said. “They were able to give those foxes the immune response that they were missing to help them combat this disease.” 

As conservationists planned their repopulation efforts, they were able to leverage the unique geography of Catalina, which narrows to half of a mile at one point, dividing the east and west sides of the island. 

“All of the east end of the island population was pretty much gone,” Rudy said. “They were able to capture the majority of the foxes that were left out on the west end and start a captive breeding program.“ 

Scientists eventually released the foxes born in captivity out into the wild on the east side of the island. 

By all accounts, the measures exceeded expectations, and the number of foxes on the island began to increase. 

“Now we're luckily in a period where the foxes are stable, they're doing really well,” Elder said. “Their population is really what we would call carrying capacity, like what the island can sustain.”

As the wild population continued to grow steadily, the captive breeding program was phased out.

By 2014, the fox population on Catalina Island had surpassed pre-crash numbers, reaching more than 1,850.

“We're in a maintenance era,” Rudy said. “Hopefully, that's where it'll stay, because a maintenance program is so much easier than a recovery program.” 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized their successful return in 2016 by reclassifying the Catalina Island fox’s status from "endangered" to "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. 

The agency noted it was part of the fastest recovery of a mammal in U.S. history, along with the foxes from neighboring islands. 

Despite this, the foxes continue to face threats from vehicle collisions and potential disease outbreaks. 

“We don't want to get too comfortable because you never know what the next threat could be and how quickly it could impact the foxes,” Edler said.

The Catalina Island Conservancy team continues to monitor the fox population annually by safely capturing individuals to fit them with GPS collars, allowing researchers to spot check their location and better understand their behavior. 

Dennhardt said the team continues to vaccinate a large part of the fox population, including 333 in 2024. 

“We leave about 40 to 70 unvaccinated with collars. These serve as indicator foxes,” she said. “If there's a new disease entered into the population, we can detect it early, find out what it is and respond to it.”

A few decades ago, without the intervention of conservationists, the Catalina Island fox appeared destined to disappear from the planet. 

Today, visitors to Catalina Island are likely to witness one of the thousands of foxes living in the wild.

“It's a very charismatic animal. They bark, they growl. It's pretty common if you go out onto the landscape, like in the canyons, you'll hear them calling to one another,” Rudy said. “They're just inherently fun to see.” 

The success of this recovery effort provides hope not just for a single, unique species of island fox, but serves as a powerful reminder of the role collaborative conservation can play in an increasingly threatened environment.

Dennhardt believes that if scientists have the ability to solve a problem that humans created, it’s our moral responsibility to do so. 

She points to the Catalina Island fox recovery as proof that bold, collaborative action can lead to positive impacts on the environment. 

“When scientists are against a wall, they respond quickly. A lot of great biologists moved fast, and the fox is thriving today because of it,” Dennhardt said. “Extinction is forever, but we can prevent it and actually create more biodiverse and resilient ecosystems for the future.”

The mission of the Catalina Island Conservancy is to be an exemplary steward of Island resources through a balance of conservation, education, and recreation.

The Conservancy’s vision is for a beautifully functioning Island ecosystem for all to enjoy.

Just off the densely populated Southern California coast, Catalina Island is home to approximately 4,000 year-round residents and more than 60 endemic species of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth.

The Catalina Island Conservancy protects 88 percent of Catalina Island’s approximately 48,000 acres, including the region’s longest publicly accessible undeveloped coastline.

For the gala event we produced a shorter event cut of the film.

• Donate to the Catalina Island Conservancy

• Catalina Island Conservancy
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• Institute for Wildlife Studies
• Friends of the Island Fox

• Biodiversity Atlas: Santa Catalina Island Fox
• Time: These Foxes Faced Extinction. Now, They’re Making an Amazing Comeback
• Mongabay: Recovery of Island foxes a ‘historic success’; officials recommend removing them from endangered species list
• Wikipedia: Catalina Island
• CIC: Island Scientists Talk Foxes
• FWS: Final Rule: Reclassification of Island Fox Subspecies
• CIC: Fox vs. Island: Surviving Against the Odds
• Friends of the Island Fox: Celebrating the Successful Recovery of the Island Fox
• Fish & Wildlife: Interior Announces Fastest Successful Recovery of an Endangered Species Act-Listed Mammal; Three Island Fox Subspecies Now Fully Delisted
• A Catalina Fox Tale: Overcoming Near Extinction
• Center for Biological Diversity: Feds Say California's Endangered Channel Islands Foxes Are Recovered
• Foxes on Catalina Island: The Ultimate Come-Back Story
• Federal Register: Reclassifying the Santa Catalina Island Fox From Endangered to Threatened
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Interior Announces Fastest Successful Recovery of an Endangered Species Act-Listed Mammal

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