Captive Breeding Brings Arctic Foxes Back From the Brink in Scandinavia
By Dawn Reynolds
Out of the approximately nine million species known on Earth, which ten would you designate as most representative of the world as a whole? The International Union for Conservation of Nature, one of the largest conservation organizations in the world, in 2009 named the Arctic fox as one of ten indicator species for ongoing climate change impacts. This is somewhat of an alarming notion, considering the grave decline Arctic foxes have faced for the last century or so. However, thanks to several years of exhaustive and conscientious work by many scientists and organizations, there is more than a glimmer of hope for Arctic fox recovery in the Scandinavian wild.

The Crisis
Like many arctic species, Arctic foxes (scientific name Vulpes lagopus) have suffered sharp declines and are struggling to persist in the wild. As is also often the case, this is a result of many factors. For the Arctic fox, the factors most consequential to their relatively recent decline include excessive hunting around the turn of the 20th century, competition with the red fox (a close relative with a slightly more accommodative lifestyle), and reduced habitat availability as the planet continues to warm (namely, ongoing deterioration of alpine and Arctic terrain that Arctic foxes rely so heavily upon).
Even after protective legislation took effect in Scandinavian countries in the 1920s-1940s, we saw no sign of natural recovery, but instead a continued decline in the following decades. As few as 40–60 individual foxes remained scattered across Scandinavia in 2000, down from a historical population of ~10,000–20,000. As the situation looked increasingly grave, conservation organizations turned to captive breeding as an eleventh-hour effort in rescuing the species from the brink of extinction in the wild.
Breaking New Ground
In 2000, the Norwegian Environment Agency funded the Arctic Fox Captive Breeding Programme, introduced with the goal of strengthening existing populations as well as reintroducing the fox to areas in which the species had gone locally extinct in Norway.
Captive breeding programs are generally uncommon in terms of conservation efforts; there are often less costly possible approaches, and captive breeding and reintroduction comes with a relatively high risk of inefficacy in the long term. After all, there are many variables between captivity and wild habitat that scientists can’t always predict or account for. However, because Arctic foxes were in dire circumstance and no other option looked viable, the captive breeding program went underway.
The scientists began by capturing wild pups to kickstart the captive population. They made sure to maximize benefits for both captured and non-captured pups; taking them as close as possible to weaning allows for an easier transition to captivity, while also helping to reduce competition for the captured pup’s littermates: one pup going to captivity means one less mouth for Mama fox to feed.
Failure, Perseverance, and Success
The first captive-breeding arrangement comprised of four breeding pairs in modified fox-farming enclosures. If you’re picturing something like rows of relatively small netted cages, you’d be correct. Turns out that such an environment causes significant stress to wild-born foxes, which in turn has a negative effect on reproductivity. After about three years of little to no breeding success with this set-up, a revamp of the program was necessary.
In 2004, the captive breeding program underwent an overhaul. The program employed an advisory board of veterinarians, alpine and Arctic ecologists, and animal welfare experts. The foxes were moved to larger, natural environment enclosures with the details of Arctic fox biology and behavior taken into account. Video surveillance monitoring was utilized to keep an eye on the breeding pairs while also minimizing human handling and contact, with the goal of reducing human familiarity as well as potential disease exposure.

Between 2006–2015, over three hundred pups born in the program were either recruited back into the program or released into the wild at various sites throughout Norway, with the vast majority in the latter category.
To ease the transition from captivity and prepare for success in the wild, researchers analyzed historical habitat and den sites to choose optimal release sites for the captive-bred foxes. Artificial dens as well as food dispensers used in the enclosures were placed at or near wild release sites, also to facilitate as painless a transition as possible.
The captive-bred foxes have thus far proven to be successful in the wild. Populations have been re-established in three areas where they had previously been locally extinct, several other populations have benefited from immigration of released foxes, and the number of wild-born pups descended from released foxes has likely exceeded six hundred. It’s estimated that about half of Norway’s breeding pairs as of 2017 include released foxes or descendants.

More Than A Glimmer of Hope
This study provides especially valuable insight for the future of conservation of Arctic foxes as well as perhaps other endangered species by establishing effective captive breeding and release methods, as well as providing opportunity for elaboration and further study. This fundamental understanding of breeding and reintroduction success can serve as a starting point; the same researchers who conducted this program are now preparing more reintroduction programs, as well as more detailed monitoring and analysis of the newly strengthened fox populations.
The efficacy of this captive breeding program in recovering populations of a critically endangered species restores some coveted optimism in terms of the future of conservation biology. This study has showed us that even in seemingly desperate conditions, if we invest time, resources, and the right personnel, if we persist, and if we commit to maintaining our successes, there is still hope for recovery.
References:
Arild Landa, Øystein Flagstad, Veronika Areskoug, John D. C. Linnell, Olav Strand, Kristine Roaldsnes Ulvund, Anne-Mathilde Thierry, Lars Rød-Eriksen & Nina E. Eide (2017) The endangered Arctic fox in Norway — the failure and success of captive breeding and reintroduction, Polar Research, 36:sup1, 9, DOI: 10.1080/17518369.2017.1325139

