BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — July is "Wild About Wildlife" Month, an initiative to inform the public about the importance of wildlife protection.
In the San Joaquin Valley, the San Joaquin Kit Fox is an endangered species, which could cause issues for many other animals. The California Living Museum (CALM) is giving insight on the kit fox while trying to raise the population.
Weighing no more than five pounds on average, the San Joaquin Kit Fox can be found in desert areas or even in residential areas. But the Director of the California Living Museum, Meg Maitland, says that just because they are commonly spotted does not mean there is a high population of foxes.
With the kit fox being an endangered species, Maitland says CALM is doing its part in helping the foxes and has already seen a high sucess rate. According to Maitland. since creating this partnership, CALM has been able to rescue and release over 140 kit foxes.
“We work alongside endangered species recovery program to collect kit foxes that have mange," said Maitland. "They are treated in our wildlife hospital and then rereleased back into the wild.”
According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the San Joaquin Kit Fox was listed as endangered in March 1967. Maitland says mange is one of those factors. She says mange is a skin condition that is 100 percent treatable, however, animals in the wild often die from it.
According to Maitland, all kit foxes were treated in house in CALM's new Wonderful Wildlife Care Clinic. The clinic was created in a partnership with University fo California Davis, the Wonderful Company, and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
Maitland says that the new clinic has a lot of different funtions and has also become the first inland Oiled Wildlife Facility, something she says will bring positive impacts not only to animals but the ecosystem as well.
“If there is an oil spill that's large inland, the OWCN team will deploy their team to CALM," explained Maitland. "This building is set up to be able to take care of all of those oiled wildlife to ensure they get put back out into the wild.”
Maitland also says that although the kit fox can be commonly found, it is best to leave them alone so they can continue their critical work in the wild.
“Our foxes take our rodent populations and ground squirrels, all of those things," said Maitland. "Those guys are equally as responsible for making sure that everything is balanced.”
Maitland says there are plenty of volunteer opportunities at CALM for anyone interested in being "Wild About Wildlife" this month. However, she says there are also many things people can do from home to help animals, such as recycling more or donating to local wildlife conservations.
