The swift fox (Vulpes velox), is one of the smallest foxes in the world, and is only found in the Great Plains of North America. It gets its name because it can reach speeds of up to 40 km per hour.

Swift Fox Restoration with Defenders of Wildlife

Once common on the prairies of Montana, the swift fox was extirpated in the mid-1900s by trapping, incidental poisoning, loss of habitat, and the disappearance of prairie dogs and other food sources in the wake of government extermination programs.

To accomplish the swift fox restoration, a partnership was formed among Defenders of Wildlife, the Blackfeet Indian Nation, and the Cochrane Ecological Institute, a Canadian captive breeding facility. For five years, beginning in 1998, this partnership helped transport captive swift foxes from Canada to tribal lands in northwestern Montana. Funds from Earth Friends were used to hire tribal members as field biologists to monitor fox dispersal, reproduction and survival. Each year these field biologists documented excellent survival rates among the released foxes and increasing numbers of swift fox dens. For example, in 1999 biologists located four dens and in 2005 biologists found 13.

In 2003, in collaboration with the University of Montana, Defenders of Wildlife conducted an evaluation of the project and determined that the partnership achieved their goal of re-establishing a self-sustaining swift fox population on the Reservation. The study documented the presence of at least 100 foxes with an increasing growth rate.

The project was not only the first successful swift fox reintroduction in the U.S., but it now serves as a model for similar efforts elsewhere in the Great Plains. Today, such reintroduction efforts are being undertaken on Badlands National Park, the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation and on one of Ted Turner's properties. Defenders of Wildlife greatly appreciates Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation’s role in this wildlife success story.