Freeway Foxes

Like many Costa Mesa residents, I was concerned when I read about the plight of the red fox den on the freeway embankment. However, my concern extended beyond saving the foxes. As a biologist, I am aware of the loss to development of several acres each day of habitat that supports rare and threatened species.

The California Department of Fish and Game is so short-handed and strapped for funds that there are not even on-site refuge managers at Upper Newport Bay or Bolsa Chica ecological reserves. Things are tough at the federal level as well.

At a time when our governmental agencies lack the money or staff to ensure the survival of the native resources they have been mandated to protect, it is truly pathetic to witness the extent of public attention given to the red fox, a fuzzy and cute, although non-native, species that has adapted well to urban environments. Most of our native wildlife species, particularly those listed as endangered, do not adapt easily to urban settings and require extensive time and effort to protect and manage.

If those individuals who expressed concern about the foxes truly care about the welfare of animals, they would write their state and federal legislators to strongly urge that budgets for our resource conservation agencies be sufficient to provide for the studies and biologists essential to protect our native wildlife species from extinction.

KATHY KEANE, Costa Mesa