The swift fox is a small light tan orange fox around the size of a cat. It lives in the grasslands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, along with some states in America that are included in the western grasslands of North America such as Montana.
The swift fox requires short and medium mixed prairie grasses for survival. When the prairies began to change in the 1930's because of settlement the swift foxes habitats were destroyed and the swift foxes became an extirpated species in Canada.
Loss of habitat, although the main reason, wasn't the only reason that the swift foxes were extirpated from Canada. They fell victim to trapping and poisoning meant for wolves, not the swift foxes.
In 1983 The Swift Fox Recovery Program started. Captive bred foxes and wild foxes from the United States were released in to Canada hoping to create a self-sustaining population of wild swift foxes in Canada.
In 1983 The Swift Fox Recovery Program started. Captive bred foxes and wild foxes from the United States were released in to Canada hoping to create a self-sustaining population of wild swift foxes in Canada.
In a 1996-1997 consensus researchers estimated that 192 swift foxes were living along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border south of Cypress hills. In 1998 the status of the swift fox was changed from extirpated to endangered proving that the swift fox recovery program did help. Researchers now estimate the swift fox population along the Alberta - Saskatchewan border to be 560 foxes, a huge improvement from the 192 in 1996-1997.
The swift foxes current status is threatened. Other animals hunting the swift fox and poisoning are still threats to the swift fox. One of the swift foxes main source of food is insects. Insects that have been affected by the pesticides sprayed on crops by farmings are a huge threat to the swift fox.
To help these swift foxes continue to thrive in Canada and continue increasing their population you can make sure not to develop the land the swift foxes need to survive and not use pesticides on crops that could end up killing the swift foxes if ingested. The swift foxes are a threatened species so hunting and trapping these animals is illegal.
