Who is helping the Swift Foxes now?

One of the "organizations" that helps protect these furry little creatures is the Calgary Zoo. They help both national and international recovery teams aiming to ensure the future of Swift Foxes in the Canadian prairies.

An example of a conservation strategy that the Calgary Zoo uses to ensure the future of not just the Swift Fox but all endangered animals is an "endangered species breeding facility". In this facility, endangered species are brought in, taken care of, and breeded to make sure that their species will recover their numbers and drop their "status" as endangered. This conservation strategy was recently used to breed the Asian Wild Horse to increase their numbers from 8 to 11. This is the first time, since 1994, that three Asian Wild Horse foals have been born at the Calgary Zoo's endangered species breeding facility.

Another conservation strategy used by the Calgary Zoo is the Species Survival Program that are managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The Species Survival Program focus on animals that are threatened or endangered to the point where they believe that captive breeding programs are their only chance for survival. This program engages in cooperative population management, research of these animals, public education about the animals, reintroduction, and in situ or field conservation projects. An example of an animal that is a part of this program is the Western Lowland and Mountain Gorillas. They have become endangered because of habitat loss, poaching, and disease.

A conservation strategy that is also used by the Calgary Zoo is a "program" called Conservation Training. The Centre for Conservation Research (CCR) is dedicated in helping scholars from around the world become future conservation leaders. The Centre provides hands-on training in conservation research and endangered species management to undergraduate and graduate students in both Canada and abroad so that these students can make a difference in the survival of endangered animals in the future. This "program" doesn't really focus on the endangered species itself but trains young people to learn about these animals' circumstances and what they could do to help them. So hopefully in the future, these people will take part of programs mentioned above to ensure the future of these animals that are currently known as "endangered".

Even with all of these conservation strategies that the Calgary Zoo uses to try and ensure the future of these animals, there is still the possibility that the zoo could decrease biodiversity of the endangered animals. At the Calgary Zoo, there are a couple of each species, usually only one male and female. When these two produce offspring(s), it is very likely that the offspring will interbreed with each other unless a new animal of the same species with different genes from the offspring comes to the zoo and mates with one of the offspring. If this species keep interbreeding with each other with no new genes from another animal of the same species, then it is quite possible that that species will eventually become too sickly and die out anyway.