An exciting part of being a Wildlife Assistant is being involved with the releases and the post-release monitoring work. We are now in year 2 of a 4 year project that is looking into survival rates of fox cubs following release. This year 6 cubs are being fitted with GSM collars which will collect important data on their movements post release. I was very privileged to observe the collars being fitted and was in charge of recording all the details of each fox as they were being fitted and checked over.
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| Taking measurements. |
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| Recording weight. |
In order to fit the collar the foxes were given an anesthetic; this gave us an opportunity to take important body measurements and for our vet to give them a full health check before their return. The team had to ensure the collars were fitted correctly so as to firstly avoid the fox pulling it over his head but secondly allow for a little more growth. The collars where then sprayed with a bitter spray to deter the foxes from chewing them, which had been a problem last year.
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| Giving a health check and checking its condition. |
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| Spraying the collar with bitter spray. |
We will now be able to monitor the foxes post release which is always important from a rehabilitation point of view, to ensure that we are returning them back to the wild, fit and able to survive and integrate back into a wild population. It will be great to see if our foxes decide to stay where we release them or move on to establish their own territory as they tend to do in the wild.
Using GSM collars is an important step forward in terms of monitoring fox cubs. Although expensive, they will allow us to collect important data without having to track them on a daily basis. Using GSM collars is also far less labor intensive than using VHF collars. Information gathered from this project is likely to be very useful to anyone involved in the care and release of orphaned fox cubs and will hopefully give us all peace of mind that we are giving them all a fair chance of returning back to the wild successfully.
Using GSM collars is an important step forward in terms of monitoring fox cubs. Although expensive, they will allow us to collect important data without having to track them on a daily basis. Using GSM collars is also far less labor intensive than using VHF collars. Information gathered from this project is likely to be very useful to anyone involved in the care and release of orphaned fox cubs and will hopefully give us all peace of mind that we are giving them all a fair chance of returning back to the wild successfully.
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| The collar will allow us to trace the fox by satellite. |
By Michelle Bite
Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery
To donate to Stapeley text and our orphans: STAP70 £2 or £5 to 70070
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