National park agency to release 28 endangered foxes in Sobaeksan

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said its national park agency would release 28 endangered foxes in the Sobaeksan National Park area to restore the Baekdudaegan ecological corridor.

The release includes 14 female and 14 male captive-bred foxes selected for their ability to live independently in the wild. Twenty-five of the animals, or about 90%, are one-year-olds born last year, an age group considered highly adaptable to the wild.

Sobaeksan National Park, midway along the Baekdudaegan ecological corridor, has pursued fox restoration since 2012, with about 70 animals estimated to live there. The program targets 100 active foxes and at least five subpopulations with breeding confirmed through three or more generations by 2027.

Foxes once ranged across the Korean Peninsula, but rat-control campaigns in the 1960s left them at risk of disappearing in the wild.

The foxes were divided into six groups and completed eight months of wild-adaptation training, including hunting-skills instruction. For the past month, the groups have been acclimating to the environment around four release sites so they can disperse across the Sobaeksan area.

Officials will use a soft-release method, opening holding-facility doors so the foxes can leave gradually. All will carry GPS trackers, allowing the agency to follow their movements for about two years. Early monitoring will run around the clock to prevent losses from roadkill and pesticide poisoning and assess whether they settle.

The agency began collecting illegal hunting gear a week before the release and, on the day before it, advised residents of nearby villages not to use it. Illegal hunting gear and vehicle collisions are the principal threats to fox survival.

Joo Dae-young, chairman of the ministry's national park agency, called the release "an important milestone for restoring the Korean Peninsula's ecosystem and recovering biodiversity beyond Sobaeksan."