Content
- A resounding NO to buying wild animals
- What is it like to have a fox as a pet
- Is it nice to have a pet fox?
- Customs and characteristics of foxes
There is a tendency in our society that is perhaps wrong, but that is undeniably installed in our minds: we like exclusivity, things that are different from the usual. This fact has also reached the world of pet lovers. For this reason, nowadays, many people plan to have a fox as a pet.
At PeritoAnimal, for reasons that we will explain later, we do not recommend anyone adopting a fox as a pet..
Keep reading this article to access information that is not usual in other forums dedicated to the animal world.
A resounding NO to buying wild animals
Removing any wild animal, in this case a fox, from nature is an aberration in most cases. This is only acceptable if it is a question of saving the life of a puppy lost from its mother by accident or in the case of animals that have suffered abuse and cannot be reinserted into the wild. Still, when this happens, the animal must be taken to a animal fauna recovery center regulated by Ibama, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources.
Keeping a wild animal in captivity without the necessary knowledge about its social, nutritional and behavioral needs can seriously affect your health and emotional well-being, which can lead to serious illness, severe stress, anxiety, depression and other behavioral problems.
What is it like to have a fox as a pet
Unfortunately in some countries there are farms dedicated to raising foxes to turn them into very expensive pets.
However, we emphasize that the foxes can't adapt totally to get along with humans. It is true that a fox can be tamed, as Russian scientist Dimitry K. Belyaev demonstrated in the late 1950s, which does not mean that it is domesticable, particularly by its nature.
However, there is no space in this article to report all the complexity of that experiment carried out with foxes, but summarizing the result is as follows:
From 135 foxes coming from farms to fur production, that is to say, they were not wild foxes, Belyaev managed, after several generations of breeding, to totally tame and sweet foxes.
Is it nice to have a pet fox?
No, it's not cool to have a pet fox in Brazil. Unless you acquire a license from the government, proving that you can offer all the conditions to protect it. There are different species of foxes that are at risk of extinction in the world and they, like other animals, must be protected.
In Brazil, Law No. 9,605/98 establishes that collecting wildlife specimens without a license or authorization is a crime, as is selling, exporting, buying, keeping or keeping in captivity. The penalty for these crimes can vary from one fine up to five years in prison.
Animals seized by government agencies, such as the Federal Police, or found out of nature must be sent to the Wild Animal Screening Centers (Cetas) and then taken to breeding sites, duly authorized animal sanctuaries or fauna developments.
The only option to be able to own a domestic fox is to request Ibama permission after meeting the necessary requirements that prove that it is possible to offer quality of life to the animal.
In this other article you can check an extensive list of domestic animals, according to IBAMA.
Customs and characteristics of foxes
Domestic or wild foxes have a foul odor, are intelligent and affectionate. they have a predatory nature and they would not get along with other pets, which makes it impossible for them to adapt to a domesticated fox. It is known that if foxes enter a chicken coop they will exterminate all the chickens, even if they only want to take one as food. This fact makes it very difficult for the fox to live with other smaller pets such as cats or small dogs.
It is very likely that larger dogs will become aggressive against foxes by recognizing this ancient enemy. Another problem is the habit of hiding the carcasses of their prey: mice, rats, birds, etc., to eat them later, what makes it unfeasible the presence of a pet fox in any house, however large the green area.
Foxes have nocturnal habits and tend to hunt bigger prey than they are, but prefer to feed on rodents, being able to also eat wild fruits and insects.
With many physical similarities to dogs, foxes have very different behaviors from them, starting with the fact that they are solitary animals, unlike other canids, which live in packs.
One of the main threats to foxes is humans, who can hunt them for their skin or just for entertainment.
If you want to read more articles similar to the fox as a pet, we recommend that you enter our What You Need to Know section.