The San Miguel Island Fox

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Craniata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Urocyon
Species: Urocyon littoralis littoralis

The San Miguel Island Fox is a beautiful animal that that endangered due to the large population of the Golden eagle on the San Miguel Island. The fox does have three adaptations that assist in it's survival. The most mentioned and important adaptation of the San Miguel Island Fox is the size of the fox. The fox is approximately the same size as a house cat (18-20in.) in length and weighs anywhere from 2.8-6.2 lbs. The small size of the fox helps it in times of danger when it needs to take shelter in small enclosures that the predator cannot enter.
The color and thickness of the fox's coat is also a great adaptation. The coat of the San Miguel Island fox is a gray/sandy color with the ears darker. This serves as camouflage for the fox. The coat is also very thick which is good for insulation and protection of the skin. Another adaptation of the Island fox is that it is susceptible to diseases and parasites that normally it would have an immunity to. This is due to the isolation of the fox. The fact that the fox can easily contract diseases may make it a health hazard to other animals on the island.
The one adaptation that could eliminated and result in profit is the fox's susceptibility to diseases and parasites. The fox's susceptibility to such things presents danger to other creatures on the San Miguel Island.
A large population of the San Miguel Island fox is already in captivity (captive fox breeding programs) on the Channel Islands. Since several of the foxes are already in captivity, it would be useful to try and fix the problem. The fox would be given vaccines just as humans are to expose the fox to different stimuli. Vaccines contain dead strains of the disease so that when the disease or bacteria enter your body, your body has already been exposed and can defend itself against the foreign bacteria. Obviously, it would difficult to vaccinate every fox on the island but having a large majority of the fox population vaccinated would assist in eliminating the problem. Before going through the process of vaccination, I would need to learn more about the diet of the fox to determine what animals it comes into contact with most. This would tell me what diseases or parasites the prey carries and whether or not it is the result of the San Miguel Island fox.
The only downside to this plan is that by giving the fox vaccines, it could create a new species of the Island fox that could be prone to coming into contact with bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics. The vaccines will initially give the fox immunity to most diseases and parasites but bacteria do become resistant overtime to antibiotics. This alone could create a whole new species that is susceptible to the very dangerous and non-treatable bacteria. This new species would then procreate, producing offspring that is susceptible to the same strain of bacteria.
I think it would be appropriate and ethical to continue with the process of vaccination because it will, at the very least, expose this species of fox to common diseases and parasites that it otherwise would not be able to fight off. It will give the fox the basic immunities needed for survival.

References:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. December, 10, 2001. http://www.epa.gov/EPA-IMPACT/2001/December/Day-10/i30188.htm. Downloaded on July, 29, 2008.