JAKARTA - More than 450 Arctic fox calves have been bred and released into the wild in the last twenty years in Norway.
The conservation program began in 2003, when there were probably no more than 50 arctic foxes left in the wild in Finland, Sweden and Norway combined.
Now, new fox cubs are transported and released in the Troms Mountains, an area where historically many foxes lived, with many of their abandoned nests still intact. Some are being cleared of snow, to make it easier for the vulpins to enter.
"The area we are going to is an area that used to be a mountain fox. There are many old mountain fox nests. But they have been empty for years," said Thomas Johansen, senior adviser at the Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency, as reported by Euronews April 24.
"Now, we are releasing the foxes, hoping they will form a new tribe here, hopefully the start of a new era."
Their numbers are slowly increasing but the arctic fox remains critically endangered. The number of arctic foxes has been increasing slowly since the start of the program. The current population is about 300 adult animals in Norway.
However, the situation is still precarious, as this fox is still listed under threat of extinction in Scandinavia.
Karen Lone, a senior adviser at the Norwegian Environment Agency, said last year the agency registered 54 liters, the second largest number since the start of the breeding program in Norway.
"The total number of arctic foxes in the three Scandinavian countries is estimated to be slightly less than 500 adults today," Lone added.
To maximize their post-release survival, supplementary feeding stations and artificial nests were placed near the release sites.
To date, foxes kept in captivity have been reintroduced into nine different populations across Norway.
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