Experts in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are asking Iowans, including trappers, for help in research that may explain why there are a dwindling number of gray fox in Iowa. Vince Evelsizer, a furbearer biologist for the DNR, says gray fox are pretty secretive, not very vocal and live primarily in wooded areas of eastern and southern Iowa.
The DNR is offering $400 to trappers who catch a gray fox in a cage and turn the live animal over for the DNR’s research project so it can be fitted with a neck collar that has a tracking device. Evelsizer says Iowans who are certain they know where gray fox may be in their area can call the agency, because he and another staffer who’re working on the project might be able to catch the fox and put a GPS collar on it.
The DNR conducted a survey between 2018 to 2021 and found next to zero gray fox were being trapped in Iowa, so it’s unlikely the population decline is because they’re being captured for their fur.
The state of Indiana has a similar project to track gray fox there. Evelsizer says the gray fox population is declining steadily in Midwestern states.
Gray fox are native to Iowa. An adult gray fox typically weighs between 10 and 12 pounds.
