AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian A Santa Catalina Island fox pup
dashes into the wilderness after being released on Santa
Catalina Island, CA. The Catalina Island Conservancy released 10
captive-bred pups from one breeding season in an effort to
reestablish the subspecies. The Catalina Island Fox, an
omnivorous fox subspecies found only on Santa Catalina Island,
has outwitted extinction in an unprecedented creature comeback.
Conservationists began a recovery program for the gray, pointed
nose canid in the late 1990s following a distemper epidemic that
saw the fox population plummet to a sparse population of about
100 on the 76-square-mile island. When the captive breeding
program ended in 2004, the foxes were listed as endangered.
There are now 1,542 cat-sized foxes that share the island with
approximately 3,200 humans and more than 1 million tourists a
year, reports the L.A. Times. In the foxes' favor, no natural
predators exist on the island, and plenty of food — from mice to
cherries — is readily available. It's