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The endangered San Joaquin kit fox lives in a part of central California where solar energy is rapidly expanding.
To ensure that solar farms do not harm the species, operators are required to monitor kit fox populations. But doing this is tough. This adorable but elusive fox is nocturnal, and it lives underground.
So the job requires a team of experts – specially trained rescue dogs who sniff out the kit fox scat, or droppings. That scat is then sent for DNA analysis to identify the fox that produced it and determine if the animal is healthy.
Pete Coppolillo is with Working Dogs for Conservation. His team has been monitoring kit fox in the region for two decades.
Coppolillo: “Just like the children’s book says, everybody poops. And so … we don’t have to catch them. We just find their scats and that can tell us a tremendous amount about the population and how they’re doing and how what we’re doing affects them.”
For example, how the density of solar panels or construction practices impact the fox.
He says in general, he’s found kit fox to be resilient to solar development.
Coppolillo: “So that’s a really nice outcome because it means we can do both – make our energy more climate-friendly, and do it in a way that is wildlife-friendly.”
Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media
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