Back From the Brink

Story appeared in the 2016 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY LEANNE SCHULTZ, OPERATIONS & HR MANAGER

A SMALL FOX, approximately the size of a domestic cat, seems an unlikely symbol of the health of wildlife in Canada. Weighing only 5-7 pounds, they are opportunistic feeders, eating rabbits, mice, birds, berries and seeds. They pose no threat to humans.

Native to the Great Plains region of North America, their territory used to range from as far north as central Alberta to as far south as central Texas. However, in 1928, the last re-corded Swift Fox in Canada was killed in Saskatchewan, and the species was declared extirpated, or extinct.

Swift foxes are among the oldest of canid species in North America, able to cope with weather extremes for over a 1,000 years. Trapping, incidental poisoning from farmers intent on getting rid of prairie dogs and ground squirrels who ate their crops, and the conversion of native grass-lands to agricultural lands across the Prairies all contributed to the destruction of the Swift Fox species in Canada. But now, thanks in large part to the foresight and dedication of a QMS alumna and her family, the Swift Fox has been down listed from extirpated to endangered in 1999, and recently from endangered to threatened.

Clio Smeeton attended QMS as a five-day boarder from the age of five until she was 14 (1946-55). Her parents withdrew her from the school in 1950 after they bought a yacht in the UK (the Tzu Hang) and the three of them sailed to Victoria, B.C. Her family loved sailing so much that Clio was taken out of the school again in 1955 to sail the Tzu Hang to Australia. She eventually graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in London, putting herself through school by modeling. She also joined her adventure-seeking parents as they explored the world on their yacht. She settled back in Canada in the 1960s, joining the Calgary Zoo as the curator for the Children’s Zoo.

In 1973, Clio bought a large ranch in Cochrane, Alberta in partnership with her parents, Miles and Beryl Smeeton. Together, they established what would become the Cochrane Ecological Institute and set out on an ambitious plan to re-introduce the Swift Fox thorough a captive breeding program. Working first by themselves, they started the world’s only breeding facility for the Swift Fox. They brought in animals from Montana, where there was still a viable population, and raised them on their ranch in large dens designed to mimic conditions in the wild. Mature animals were then rereleased back into the wild in family groups.

The Smeetons created partner-ships with the University of Calgary, federal and provincial agencies, and local First Nations tribes; between 1983 and 1997, they released 942 Swift Foxes back into the wild in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. They have also developed a number of non-invasive wildlife survey techniques to track the success of their re-introduction work. Now, the Swift Fox is the only species in the world to have successfully been recovered from extirpation status. As Clio states, “We proved that you can put it back.”

Today, Clio Smeeton continues to run the Cochrane Ecological Institute and the Swift Fox Breeding program. The Institute is also a shelter for other indigenous wildlife to rehabilitate before being released back into the wild. At their Educational Institute, they host school children from all over Canada and offer practicums and internships to university students from all over the world. The Institute receives no government funding for its work, relying solely on income brought in from a dog and cat boarding program and donations from the public.

What is amazing about the Smeeton’s accomplishments is that Clio and her parents were not trained biologists or environmentalists. Their work was inspired by a desire to give back to the beauty of the land and the enjoyment that it gave them.