KERN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE – A San Joaquin kit fox has been spotted for the first time since 2007 at Kern National Wildlife Refuge in California.
Biologists say it appears to have found a den to live in. If that’s the case, it would be the first known “denning” since the 1980s. Experts plan to make 10 artificial burrows to support the possibility of a kit fox family.
There have been extensive efforts to clear out invasive plants at the refuge. Shrubs and tall grasses cause problems for kit foxes, which need open areas so they can see predators like coyotes.
Kern National Wildlife Refuge is just outside of Bakersfield in California’s Central Valley. Experts have thought kit foxes used it as a corridor between habitats to the south and north.
National Park News
