A fox inside an enclosure looks around before cautiously stepping outside.

Instead of directly moving the foxes, authorities used a "soft release" method, leaving the doors of their living facilities open to encourage them to walk out on their own.

This is to reduce the stress caused by sudden environmental changes.

Twenty-eight foxes that completed their wild-adaptation training were released around Mount Sobaek National Park on the morning of today (August 6).

Consisting of 14 females and 14 males, the released animals were selected from those bred in captivity that are capable of living independently in the wild.

Ninety percent of the 28 released foxes are one-year-olds born last year.

Divided into six groups, the foxes have been learning hunting skills in natural adaptation enclosures for the past eight months.

Additionally, they have been adapting to the surrounding environment from four release pens starting a month ago.

The objective is to release individuals that have lived together and formed bonds into the same groups to increase their initial settlement rate.

As of the end of June, there are 110 foxes active nationwide, 77 of which are in the Mount Sobaek region, including Yeongju, Bonghwa, and Danyang.

The Korea National Park Service has set a goal to increase the fox population in the Mount Sobaek region to 100 by 2027.

The problem lies after the release.

Among the 259 foxes released so far, 35.9% have died or been retrieved within a year due to roadkill, pesticide poisoning, or other causes.

Considering that the lifespan of a wild fox is three to six years, a significant number of them disappear before they can establish themselves.

All of the foxes released today are fitted with GPS tracking collars around their necks so that their movement paths can be monitored for the next two years.

The Korea National Park Service plans to intensively monitor them 24 hours a day and night for the first two weeks, and check their settlement, survival, and abnormal symptoms for the following six weeks.

(Reported by Park Seyong | Video by Choi Hye-young | Footage provided by Korea National Park Service | Produced by SBS Digital News)