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VIDEO: To Save A Fox, Scientists Took To Land, Air And Sea

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If you want to see a wild island fox, you have to visit the remote Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. This special species doesn't live anywhere else.

Biologists were alarmed in the mid-'90s to discover that these foxes had suddenly and mysteriously started to disappear. In 1993, more than 1,500 had roamed the largest of the islands, Santa Cruz. By 2001, fewer than 100 remained. Extinction seemed imminent. But why?

A band of allies that included public and private organizations, ecologists, veterinarians and volunteers got together to figure out the path of ecological missteps that had led to the fox's decline. It all traced back, through a couple of twists and turns, to a pesticide developed by the Allies in World War II.

The team's journey to set things right included helicopter chases, an elite hunting squad from New Zealand, a remote-controlled egg and lots of determination. This is a conservation story with a high cost but, ultimately, a happy ending — something almost as rare as the island fox.


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Ryan Kellman is a producer and visual reporter for NPR's science desk. Kellman joined the desk in 2014. In his first months on the job, he worked on NPR's Peabody Award-winning coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He has won several other notable awards for his work: He is a Fulbright Grant recipient, he has received a John Collier Award in Documentary Photography, and he has several first place wins in the WHNPA's Eyes of History Awards. He holds a master's degree from Ohio University's School of Visual Communication and a B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute.