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Would you keep a fox as a pet?


Still Waters

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In 1959, a Soviet geneticist named Dmitry K. Belyaev began somewhat secretively experimenting with breeding domesticated foxes. More than five decades, thousands of foxes, and one collapse of the Soviet Union later, the program continues at The Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, Siberia. Belyaev wanted to unlock the secrets of domestication, the links between behavior and breeding and physical traits, but plenty of non-scientists are aware of the project for a different reason: foxes are adorable, and we want to hug them, and we want them to like it.

http://www.popsci.co...esticated-foxes

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I'd love a pet fox. lol

But I think it's a bad idea to start having them as pets.

Thanks for posting a more positive thread on them though. Seems liekt he media is having a Fox hunt right now. (sorry about the bad pun)

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Why not? In fact I had a friend who had one he found as an abandoned puppy. The critter used to run after him like a lil dog (in fact many people thought it was a dog that looked remarkably like a fox).

What I would not do is go into the wild and kidnap one of them to make them a pet.

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Why not?

I know it would be nice, but I'm looking at it from a different view.

Dogs make better pets and we are already having millions of them put down yearly. Don't want to drag another animal into that. If we sorted out that issue then I don't see a problem. Just don't see the point adding to a problem we already have.

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I saw a video of Jeff Corwin's pet fennec fox. It was so cute and playful. But he said it only liked him and his wife (and daughter?), no one else.

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Yes, I would have one. The few wild animals that I've rescued as babies have stayed with me. It's too dangerous to let them back out into the wild, but I would not seek one out as a pet.

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Awwwww...how can you resist those little faces. :wub:

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I don't know how anyone would want to hunt such a beautiful and lively creature.

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:D

And a lion and a tiger ,and I really like wolves and fennic foxes and dolphins and peacocks and a doggie and an alpaca and a horse and an owl and a big tortoise and a few serval cats .....maybe some bats and hummingbirds ..

I want one of each

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I used to want a pet fox as a kid after watching "Fox and the Hound" a few times. :D They're beautiful, but I don't see a good enough reason or need to keep one as a pet unless it was a rescue situation.

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I had a gray fox before it even had its eyes open and raised it with a rabbit and a talking crow. It had a rag doll it carried with it wherever he went. Loved to get under a table and stick its feet out from under the cloth in a game of pull him across the rug. He was just like a dog, a beautiful and loving pet. PS: Gray foxes can climb trees.

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I would love to have one of the domestic ones, but then what if it gets away and then we have another exotic animal running around.

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Mr. Draugr and I have actually talked about getting a domestic one once we're more settled. They cuddle like a cat and play like a puppy.

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you would have to keep them away from dogs though...they instictively will hunt them

Not necessarily. Some get along.

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Sounds really cool and appealing but it takes more to domesticate a fox than just a short stint of selective breeding.

They ARE still wild animals and what about the lingering stress that is indelibly ingrained in their genes?

After it was their 'ancestors' who were cooped up in tiny cages to be slaughtered for their fur..such conditions are not going to produce a mentally healthy offspring I wouldn't think.

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It would be nice to see another species regarded as mans friend, and not pest. I have to admit, I would love a domsticated one, like the one's they talk about that like the affection, but not too keen on getting my face bit off.

I could never trust a Tiger, Lion, Bear or the like, I reckons that is a death wish.

This bit is concerning.

After a few generations, the results began to get a little weird. The study found that though they were selectively breeding only for behavior, they began seeing new common physical traits. The animals developed different coat patterns, floppier ears, tails that curled over their backs - totally unknown in wild foxes. When we tried to breed a fox that would act more like a dog, we ended up with a fox thatlooked more like a dog. But they're not as easy to acquire as a dog.

I'd like to know more on that.

Edited by psyche101
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plenty of non-scientists are aware of the project for a different reason: foxes are adorable, and we want to hug them, and we want them to like it.

So because people find foxes adorable, that gives them the right to treat them as property?

The same can be said for any animal treated as a pet. Of course our judicial system reinforces this attitude by pronouncing that all animals (except free range ones) are to be considered property. The reason seems to be "because we can" or "might is right".

http://www.abolition...t/#.UQpwuvL3Ung

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Yes I want a pet fox.

Edit: Or a dingo, or a wolf. They all look so cool and smart!

Though with a dingo I'll just have to be careful it doesn't steal any babies I may have lying around the house...

Edited by Timonthy
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