Seal Beach : Operation Red Fox Almost Ready to Begin

Officials of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday that they are close to completing a plan to trap dozens of red foxes that have been preying on two endangered bird species at a wildlife refuge on the military facility.

Pat Jones, environmental coordinator at the weapons station, said her staff is working out the logistics to trap the 50 to 60 red foxes.

“I’m still pulling the thing together. We still have some details to work out,” she said, adding that a precise figure for the cost of the operation had not been determined.

Jones said that a trapper has been hired to round up the foxes and that the project could begin within “the next few days.”

She also said that about 15 zoos in California have agreed to take most of the foxes.

“But that, too, is approximate at this time,” Jones said.

The foxes at the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, an 1,100-acre salt marsh, have reduced the population of migrating least terns and the permanent number of light-footed clapper rails. Both species were placed on the endangered list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a few years ago.

David Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Portland, Ore., said in a telephone interview that a private trapper will be retained to do the work. He said the job may take a couple of weeks.

The foxes will be lured into padded traps, Brown said, to reduce the risk of injury. When the wildlife service released an environmental assessment of the fox problem almost three months ago, the agency received about two dozen letters from people who said that they are opposed to the use of unpadded steel traps or killing the animals.

“We think this will be the most effective method. And now we just have to see how the thing goes and see how fast we can catch them,” Brown said.