Photo: Clio Smeeton, Cochrane Ecological Institute

No larger than a house cat, the swift fox is North America’s smallest wild canine. Swift foxes eat prairie dogs, ground squirrels, other rodents, birds, reptiles, and insects and live primarily in or near prairie dog colonies, where they have a stable food supply and access to prairie dog burrows for shelter and protection from predators, such as coyotes and large raptors.

The Predator and rodent control programs, increased fur trapping and hunting, predation by domestic dogs, and native prairie conversion to cropland decimated swift fox populations throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. Current threats include automobiles; continued trapping, hunting, and predator and rodent control; and continued habitat loss, which also makes the swift fox more vulnerable to competition with coyotes and red foxes.

An ecosystem protection approach would be more efficient and effective in addressing the growing crisis of imperiled wildlife on the Great Plains. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to protect the prairie dog heightens the need to federally list each of the endangered species who depend on prairie dogs.

Joining Forest Guardians in their renewed effort to obtained federal safeguards for the swift fox are the Center for Biological Diversity and Predator Conservation Alliance.