The Arctic fox is listed as Endangered in Norway. In 2000, there were as few as 40 – 60 adults remaining in Scandinavia. Norway’s state-sponsored Arctic Fox program aims to restore the arctic fox populations and has been feeding the animals for nearly 20 years.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the arctic fox was a common species in alpine and Arctic tundra across Norway. The low Arctic tundra in Finnmark was a stronghold for the species, likely because here – as in other parts of the circumpolar Arctic – Arctic fox habitats (i.e. tundra) extend down to the coast and marine resources.
In Finnmark, only a few arctic foxes were left in 2004, when researchers from the University of Tromsø initiated the project “Arctic fox in Finnmark” as a part of the national arctic fox conservation program of the Norwegian Environment Agency. The project aimed to uncover the drivers of the decline of the Arctic fox by means of adaptive ecosystem-based monitoring. Adaptive monitoring is a hypothesis-driven approach to long-term research and often includes management interventions.
In 2005, a captive breeding facility, NINA, was established at Sæterfjellet, approximately 25 km south of Oppdal, Norway. NINA is commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency to manage and run the captive breeding program.
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In the middle of the night on November 21, 2023, a small animal with white fur enters a pen. This is happening on the Varanger Peninsula, located in the far northeast of Norway. Inside the pen lies a tempting, dead bird. But as soon as the animal enters, the door slams shut behind him.
The long-term project represents a central pillar in the species’ conservation in Norway. Each year, captive-reared offspring are strategically released in various mountain areas across Norway.
“Without these conservation measures, the Arctic fox would surely have become extinct in Norway,” says Bjørn Rangbru, a senior adviser on threatened species with the country’s environment agency.
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Berit Tønsberg Gaski watches the trap on the Varanger Peninsula on video 150 kilometers from its position. Along with several colleagues, she is also outdoors in the clear cold night.
The captive-reared offspring are trapped and transported to release sites in January/February each year, at approximately eight months of age. By this point they are as large as the adults and in no way dependent on their parents. The foxes are transported from the breeding station to a temporary holding facility near Oppdal. After receiving a health check and parasite medication, the foxes are loaded up and transported to their designated release sites. To maximize their post-release survival, supplementary feeding stations and artificial dens are deployed at release sites. To date, captive-reared foxes have been reintroduced into nine different populations across Norway.
The program additionally involves close collaboration with the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate (SNO) and several local conservation authorities, who are responsible for field-related activities and monitoring of the foxes in the wild.
“We check the wildlife camera on the other side of the peninsula, and sure enough, an Arctic fox had entered the pen,” Gaski tells sciencenorway.no. She is a research technician at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway.
The project has resulted in the reestablishment of three locally extinct Arctic fox populations and strengthened numbers in numerous others. Emigration of released individuals into Sweden and Finland have benefited the Scandinavian population as a whole, and in 2020 the Norwegian-Swedish Arctic fox population was estimated to number 452 adults.
Norway’s Arctic Fox Program Aims to Restore Arctic Fox Populations, compiled by Tor Kjolberg
All images © Craig Jackson / NINA