Transplanted swift foxes appear to be doing well

FORT PECK (AP)

Most of the 30 swift foxes transplanted late last month to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana have stayed in the area, officials say.  Some of the foxes have moved farther east into the reservation, two were killed by predators and a third was hit by a vehicle, said Leonard Bighorn, a wildlife technician for the reservation.  "The biggest challenge with them is survival," said Kyran Kunkel, a biologist with the World Wildlife Fund.  "Coyotes are their main predator.  Keeping their survival above 50 percent is difficult."  Kunkel's group, the state, and the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes are helping with the work, which is being paid for with a $247,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The foxes were captured from areas near Whitewater and Chinook in northcentral Montana and moved to the reservation as part of a plan to boost fox numbers by linking populations of the small predator in Canada, South Dakota and Wyoming.  The captured foxes were held in pens on the reservation near Little Porcupine Creek, where they were fed and watered so they would assimilate to the area.  They were released the last week of October.  "It's very rewarding that it worked out as well as it did," said Ryan Rauscher, native species biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.  "It was hard to get All of the parties working together, but when we did, it worked well."  Swift foxes weigh only about 5 pounds but can run up to 25 mph.  Their diet consists of small mammals, such as rodents and rabbits.  "I'm hoping to get a plane up next week to get the logistics on everybody," Bighorn said.  "For the first 30 days, we want to keep a close watch on them."  The latest transplant augments a transplant of 10 foxes in 2006 to the reservation.  "Hopefully this is enough to get through this threshold and get a viable population on tribal lands," Rauscher said.