In 1999, just 15 island foxes remained on each of two California islands; captive breeding...

In 1999, conservation biologists monitoring California’s northern Channel Islands faced a serious crisis. Only 15 island foxes remained on San Miguel Island and another 15 on nearby Santa Rosa Island, leaving the small native species close to extinction. An emergency recovery program launched by Channel Islands National Park and partner organisations helped save the animals. Through captive breeding, predator removal and habitat restoration, the island fox made one of the fastest wildlife recoveries in American conservation history.Environmental chain reaction causes collapseThe rapid decline of the island fox, a housecat-sized relative of the mainland grey fox found nowhere else in the world, was caused by changes humans had made to the island ecosystem. According to information published by the National Park Service, widespread use of DDT during the mid-20th century caused major declines in local bald eagle populations. Bald eagles mainly eat fish and other marine animals, so they defended island territories without posing a major threat to the foxes. After bald eagles disappeared from the islands, golden eagles moved in from the mainland and took over the empty ecological space....