The Swift Fox

StatuS / food / size / breeding / lifespan

Few Canadians realize that this marvelous, cat-sized canine was extinct in all of Canada until about two decades ago when attempts were first made to reintroduce them.

The return of the Swift Fox is a marvelous tale of the human spirit -- and the people whose homepages you will see below who have given their lives to reintroducing them. And, if you want to help, their links will lead you to how you can do so.

Just Some facts of our endangered friend

Status: Endangered. Swift fox disappeared entirely from Canada in the early 1900s. Reintroduction programs in the last 15
years have established a small population of 150-200 in the southern prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Size: Smallest of the North American wild dogs. An adult weighs 2 to 3 kilograms.

Food: Swift foxes hunt continually from dusk to dawn, covering great distances each night. They eat
what they can catch, including small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, grasses and
berries.

Breeding: Probably occurs in March in Alberta. Two to five pups are born in the den in mid-May.

Lifespan: In the wild, three to six years. In captivity, up to 14 years.

A picture of a Swift Fox taking its afternoon nap.                                           ( Oh! how cute!!!!)

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