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The San Joaquin kit fox was listed as endangered in 1967 due to dwindling populations. This remarkable species has not only been able to hang on since then, but have also occupied new and unfamiliar habitats, like cities.
As the human population of Central California has grown, residential and commercial use (energy development, agricultural) of kit fox habitat has also expanded. With less suitable habitat, foxes have had to adapt to life in the city. An unfortunate result of city life has been the spread of disease from interactions with other urban carnivores, some of which are not native.
For example, around 2010 the kit foxes contracted sarcoptic mange likely from domestic pets and the urban fox population was nearly wiped out. Since then, conservationists have closely monitored urban foxes and their potential interactions with other urban carnivores. Our project is the latest monitoring effort to maintain the information flow to conservationists about urban foxes. The timely delivery of this information is only possible from citizen science efforts—so, THANK YOU!
While tagging pictures, you will likely encounter familiar species like squirrels, cats, and dogs. But you’ll also see animals uncommonly seen in cities, like opossums, skunks, and of course, kit foxes.
This project is being conducted by conservation biologists at California State University Bakersfield and the Endangered Species Recovery Program at California State University Stanislaus. This project uses pictures from remote cameras placed on local university, college, and high school campuses.
