From the islands of East Asia to the remote reaches of Patagonia, foxes have taken a central role in folklore and fables all across the globe. Often portrayed as conniving tricksters, the canines have served as inspiration for figures like the Japanese kitsune and Eastern European Kuma Lisa—but off the coast of California, several fascinating fox subspecies almost disappeared forever, teetering on the very edge of extinction at the dawn of the 21st century.

Native to the Channel Islands—an archipelago found just past the mainland Los Angeles County shore—the island fox serves as a shining example of the spectacular biodiversity found across the Golden State, with six separate subspecies populating six individual islands. Though the creatures spent eons thriving across the region, growing human settlements across the Channel Islands ushered in a wave of threats against the foxes, many of which stemmed not just from man, but from man's best friend.

“In Santa Catalina, the decline was due to the introduction of canine distemper, which was probably brought in by dogs coming to the islands,” says Dr. Julie Barnes, Vice President of Animal Care & Health at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Competition with introduced species like the domestic sheep and goat contributed to overall population decline, but for the island fox subspecies on San Clemente, San Nicolas, and Santa Catalina, human residents proved to be the most harmful inhabitants. Dr. Barnes notes that car collisions led to a large number of fox deaths, while domestic dogs ushered in rabies and parvovirus in addition to the aforementioned canine distemper.

As archipelagos like Hawaiʻi and New Zealand have proven, introduced factors can prove easily fatal to populations that have carefully evolved to thrive in an insolated environment. By the year 2000, the Santa Cruz subspecies had plunged from roughly 2,000 individuals to under 140 in just six years, while the Santa Rosa variety decreased from approximately 1,500 foxes to a shocking 14 in the same timespan. Human activity, introduced disease, and increased predation by the golden eagle all posed an imminent threat to several island fox subspecies—yet fortunately, some of the Golden State’s most prestigious institutions were ready to spring into action.

“When there was really serious population decline for four of the subspecies on four of the islands, they started a captive rearing program as an emergency action to try and conserve the population,” says Barnes. As the islands of Santa Cruz, San Miguel, and Santa Rosa enacted these measures, the Santa Barbara Zoo joined the Island Fox Working Group, engaging in regular population monitoring and health assessments since 2000. Due in large part to their efforts, some of the most threatened subspecies bounced back with resounding speed. In fact, the varieties hailing from Santa Cruz, San Miguel and Santa Rosa signify the fastest recovery of any mammal since the establishment of the Endangered Species Act, having been delisted after just 12 years.

In the wake of this dramatic recovery, devoted naturalists and casual wildlife fans alike can celebrate the ongoing survival of these plucky Californian creatures, with each subspecies serving as a particularly fascinating facet of the canine world. While the island foxes are closely related to the gray fox, each individual subspecies tends to be smaller than their mainland cousins due to insular dwarfism, and each variety possesses their own unique diet—and perhaps most interestingly, nobody knows just how the island fox first came to be. A rafting event (accidental migration atop a floating mass of vegetation) is one hypothesis, and there’s a strong possibility that a few of the more far-flung subspecies were brought to the Channel Islands by California’s indigenous Chumash people.

While the Golden State hasn't been immune to biodiversity loss, with recent extinctions ranging from the California grizzly bear to the Yorba Linda weevil, the island foxes serve as one of wildlife conservation's greatest success stories during the age of the Holocene extinction. In immediate response to their population decline, institutions like the Santa Barbara Zoo enacted a series of ambitious conservation programs, ultimately sparing the nation from losing some of its most affable native canines. With global biodiversity at greater risk with each passing day, these pint-sized creatures serve as a living testament to the urgent need for greater environmental protections, and to the widespread change that humanity can enact when we work together to achieve a common goal.