(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R is in its second year of a pilot study on the gray fox. D-N-R wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer says the animal’s numbers have been dropping.
“The reason for doing pilot gray fox research is because we’re concerned about their population decline statewide, and that is occurring in other Midwest states too,” he says. Evelsizer says they are asking trappers who catch a gray fox in a live trap to give the D-N-R a call. “We are hoping to catch live foxes and put collars on them for tracking purposes,” Evelsizer says.

He says they want to find out where the gray foxes are living and hunting. “The objective with that is to better understand the habitat use within the state and causes for their what’s causes of mortality, what’s leading to their decline population level wise,” Evelsizer says. Evelsizer says there is a 400-dollar reward provided by the Iowa Wildlife Federation for anyone who catches a gray fox that can be used for this study. He says the fox will be released on the site where it was caught.

Small Gray Fox

The D-N-R is also working with Iowa State University on a pilot project this winter in northeast Iowa, using cameras to track gray foxes to determine what areas these species occupy. He says other regions may be surveyed in the future, depending on how this study goes.