Phyllis Frazier

Red Fox print benefits Fennec Fox Conservation

You may be wondering, "Just what does the Red Fox have to do with the Fennec Fox?"

(Other than they are both foxes...)

Well, the answer begins with a bigger question that I ask myself all the time...

"What does wildlife conservation look like?"

More specifically, "What does it look like to make a contribution toward the conservation of wildlife?"

And while I do not claim to have THE answer (there is no limit), I can offer ONE. One answer, with relevance to my life and my own work.

I realized that if I could, through funds raised from my artwork, find something that I could make manifest in tangible form which would help a conservation biologist do their work, then I could, in a small but very real and objectified measure, realize my own goal of seeing that my work had a positive and concrete impact on wildlife conservation.

And so, after much personal research, I aligned my efforts with those of the St. Louis Zoo.

It is through their work with the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) that conservation biologists have been gathering data on little-known Saharan species, like the Fennec Fox, in order to establish a reserve and balanced management plan with local people to protect them.

To support this effort, 10% of the proceeds from sales of my Red Fox print are donated to SCF to purchase camera traps — one of several items needed to gather the necessary data on these desert species.

Initially, as of the end of 2009, enough funds had been raised from sales of my Red Fox print, that a camera trap was purchased for SCF, thereby bringing them one step closer to gathering the photographic data they needed to accomplish their goal of protecting the Fennec Fox —and other desert species found nowhere else but the Sahara — from possible extinction.

Proudly, on March 6, 2012, I received news that all of our efforts were rewarded, and this dream became reality. The Niger government established the Termit & Tin Toumma National Nature and Cultural Reserve. At 97,000 sq. km (37,450 sq. miles) — the size of the state of Indiana — the reserve is the largest single protected area in Africa. Click here to read more about this reserve.

For me, this "dream come true" effort revealed a great and empowering truth: that all of our efforts to preserve our natural heritage are significant, no matter the scale. And, that we all have the power to make that manifest in reality.

While the needs at SCF will change with this new reserve, my contributions from the Red Fox print will continue.

And so we come full circle, to arrive at our answer to learn just what it is that the Red Fox is doing to help his cousin, the Fennec...

To read about the Termit & Tin Toumma National Nature and Cultural Reserve, click here.

To learn more about the SCF project and what their field biologists need to accomplish their conservation goals, click here.

To purchase a Red Fox print, click here.


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