Have you seen a Sierra nevada red fox?

[maverick]

SEKI NP:

The endangered Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) has been detected within the boundaries of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for the first time in a very long time! Remote cameras caught glimpses of these foxes in the last year, at very high elevations, near the crest of the Sierra Nevada – the first verifiable occurrences in this area since the 1930s.
The Sierra Nevada red fox is a unique subspecies of red fox tied to montane habitats and was thought to have disappeared from the Sierra Nevada, until foxes were detected by a remote camera north of Yosemite National Park in 2010. These recent detections extend the current known range of Sierra Nevada red foxes more than 100 miles to the south!
This work is part of an ongoing camera survey project focused on alpine carnivores, led by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (who recently announced this news as well), in collaboration with several institutions, including the National Park Service. This research is labor-intensive, requiring researchers to hike and ski many challenging miles during summer and winter to repeatedly reach these remote areas.
What a wonderful reminder that national parks are not just incredible playgrounds for people, but also invaluable homes for fragile wildlife populations. We are energized by this exciting news, and we hope that you are too!

Photos courtesy of Chris Stermer, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

[texan]

That's some cool pics, thanks for sharing.

Texan

[cgundersen]

Thanks everyone for keeping this thread in focus and in the back of your mind during your Sierra wandering. As I mentioned early on, Brian Hatfield would love location data and photo evidence (if possible) of any SNRF sightings. And Peter those photos are stunning; I infer that Chris is part of the same team as Brian. Great effort by the whole gang!
Cameron

[kpeter]

My brother, who is a retired ecologist who worked in a different national forest up in Washington State, was delighted to hear about the recent sightings outside the previously known range. But he notes that this is often the pattern for rare and endangered species--when there are so few individuals it is incredibly difficult to do an accurate survey, since surveys are typically done by thoroughly counting all known individuals in a smaller range and then extrapolating. You can't do that when the density is so low, making population surveys vastly more expensive. Since no one has the resources to send thousands of biologists into every nook and cranny in the Sierra to count every last fox, we can expect the occasional surprise when some individuals pop up where they are not expected. Very typically there are more individuals out there that we don't know about, but the population could still be in serious danger.

All that said, I'm hoping that the numbers do rebound, and I echo the praise of those awesome photos!

[scottmiller]

I might have seen one on Friday between Letora Lake and Long Lake. It was a fox, and it looked solid red. A darkish red, but definitely red. It had a very long tail. I've never seen a grey fox that red, and it wasn't a coyote. It had shortish ears. I got a good look at it when it ran across the trail. Whatever it was, it was beautiful.