Catalina bald eagles, foxes make comeback

Catalina's bald eagle and fox populations continue to make strides in survival.
This season produced six young eagles that hatched on their own. The eaglets now join four other baby balds that hatched without human help last year for the first time in more than 50 years, according to the Catalina Island Conservancy.
But the endangered birds aren't out of the woods just yet.
The conservancy states that the protected species still has to deal with potential natural hazards, along with the Island's fox population.
"Last week, two fishermen spotted a 4 1/2-month-old eaglet struggling in the waters at Empire Landing and notified the Bay Watch Patrol, who called the Conservancy. Arriving at the scene, a Bay Watch crewmember jumped into the water and made gentle waves to push the bird ashore.
Conservancy Ranger Dave Skoff received the call from Bay Watch and alerted his supervisor Lenny Altherr, who notified Steffani Jijon, research assistant for the Wildlife Institute.
Meanwhile, Conservancy Ranger Phil Lopez happened to overhear the radio transmission about an eagle in trouble. He called and Gilbert and Sherry Hernandez, who opened the gate so that Skoff and Jijon could get down to the beach where the bird had washed ashore and was being dive-bombed by seagulls," according to an article published this week by Kathy August in the Catalina Islander newspaper.
Bald eagles had disappeared from the Island in the early 1970s.
Their eggs, damaged by DDT residue in the San Pedro Channel, were too brittle to hatch naturally. And the Island fox population plummeted from 1,300 to about 100 in 1999 due to a virulent case of canine distemper, according to the CIC.
However, both species are making a comeback thanks to the efforts of the Catalina Island Conservancy and its partner, the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Between 1999 and 2004, the Conservancy and the IWS, through the Island Fox Recovery Program, were able to save the species from possible extinction because of a particularly nasty bout of canine distemper virus that had infected the fox population.
Now, eight years later, nearly 600 animals roam the Island. Despite the success, the Conservancy keeps a vigilant eye on the fox population.
It is possible that the disastrous event that threatened the population in 2000 may have caused a “genetic bottleneck” increasing the chances of malformations or sensitivity to diseases in the recovering population.
Also possible—and a topic of current research—is sensitivity to factors such as ear mite parasites, or other yet-to-be-discovered cause.
Nevertheless, the Conservancy continues to be committed to the protection and restoration of these endangered and threatened species. Catalina’s unique plants and animals make the Island’s ecosystem especially sensitive to disturbances and catastrophes.