Most of the 30 swift foxes transplanted to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation last month have stuck around or moved farther east into the reservation.

"That's a plus," said Leonard Bighorn, a wildlife technician for the reservation who has been tracking the collared animals since their release.

Three of the animals moved from north-central Montana have died. Two were killed by predators and one was struck by a vehicle.

"The biggest challenge with them is survival," said Kyran Kunkel, a biologist with the World Wildlife Fund. "Coyotes are their main predator. Keeping their survival above 50 percent is difficult."

"I'm hoping to get a plane up next week to get the logistics on everybody," Bighorn said. "For the first 30 days, we want to keep a close watch on them."

The foxes, smaller than a large house cat, were trapped and quickly relocated to a holding pen on the reservation near Little Porcupine Creek, north of Frazer. There they were kept fed and watered in hopes that they would assimilate to their new surroundings. Half of the foxes were male, half female. The last week of October, they were released into their new environment.

"It's very rewarding that it worked out as well as it did," said Ryan Rauscher, native species biologist for the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Glasgow. "It was hard to get all of the parti#es working together, but when we did it worked well."

In addition to the state and Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, the work has included assistance from the World Wildlife Fund. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is funding the program with a $247,000 three-year grant.

The foxes will supplement another 10 that were transplanted to the reservation in 2006.

"Hopefully this is enough to get through this threshold and get a viable population on tribal lands," Rauscher said.

The swift foxes were captured by private trappers from as far west as Chinook and Havre. It took about three weeks to fill the quota. Although juveniles were sought, since they would be less tied to their home, some adults were captured to fill the quota.

"The actual trap success was fairly high," Rauscher said, at two or three animals a day. No animals were killed or injured during the trapping.

"Great care was taken with these traps," he said.

FWP is hoping that the transplanted foxes will eventually create continuity between populations of the animals in Canada, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming. The animals play a role in the tribes' creation mythology.

Whether to transplant more foxes will depend on the survival and reproductive success of those swift foxes that make it through the winter, Kunkel said.

"It kind of depends on how these guys do and if they connect up with the next-nearest bunches of foxes," he said.

Brett French can be contacted at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.