is this really a good idea?

So much evil in the world, nice to see something done from a kind place for once. Animal looks happy and well looked after. People might not agree with it on principle but hey, people keep rats..mice.. so where do you draw the line with vermin as pets?
 
not a great idea to have it in the paper (idiots getting ideas of owning foxes as pets) but in this particular case there is (imo) nothing wrong with it.

Fox was obviously tame when they found it so it was either pts or have it as a pet!
 
How can anyone have vermin as a pet?? It's as bad as having pet rats. :( What if it kills a baby?? Anyway, I'm sure it would be much happier out in the wild, getting nasty diseases and being hunted.
 
could get the fox working - would be very useful for laying trails for hunt days - owner takes fox on nice walk to lay the trail just before the hunt go out !! (taking fox back home in plenty of time of course !!)

sounds to me like it was a pet from birth as no instincts to speak of !
 
ps we used to have pet rats - they would sit on our shoulder as we went round local shops - terrified the little old ladies ! rats are actually very clean animals and very friendly (talking pet rats of course, not going to try and stroke the ones down the yard !)
 
Seems pretty happy to me :) domestication has happened to so many other animals over the years so why not this fox? I used to know a lady who had a pet squirrel in her house!
The only thing I don't get with this is how has she survived for 10 years (obviously before being taken in by her new "owner") if she has no hunting instincts whatsoever? Did she rely purely on locals putting food out?
Anyway, seems like a nice story :)
 
fburton said:
How can anyone have vermin as a pet?? It's as bad as having pet rats. :( What if it kills a baby?? Anyway, I'm sure it would be much happier out in the wild, getting nasty diseases and being hunted.
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Pretty missguided opinion if i am honest, rats make very good pets. :)
 
fburton said:
How can anyone have vermin as a pet?? It's as bad as having pet rats. :( What if it kills a baby??
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It's all a matter of opinion isn't it. I see children as greater vermin than most animals...

I think rats make the best pets of all rodents (and I've had plenty of them). Fox looks happy enough to me.

And for the record, are you aware exactly how rare fox attacks are? Much more dangerous to invite a dog into your house if you ask me!
 
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Plenty of people keep 'vermin' as pets - in my mind cats being kept in houses are pretty much vermin. I personally find them a nuisance/vermin when they mess in my garden (funny the owners can't be fined for that yet a dog owner could be!).

There's no getting away from it, foxes are stunning animals and it's not the fault of the fox or indeed foxes in general, that she/they become domesticated.
 
JustFindingTheDecorations said:
It's all a matter of opinion isn't it. I see children as greater vermin than most animals...
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ha! you have a good point there. :D

i mainly posted this thread as i was curious to what posters would think - i have no strong opinions either way and was genuinely interested if a fox as a wild animal could be domesticated and live as a pet.

be interested to have a follow up to that article in a few years time to see if it works.
 
ladyt25 said:
I definitely agree with you there and people seem to breed them to the same extent as vermin breed. If only some of them could be hunted.......................! Lol
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I've often said I would like to join the hunt and take out the chav population round here. Would do wonders for the over-population too...
 
I hadn't heard of this before last year.

I went to view a house and land in the middle of nowhere. The current owner had a pet fox living with her dogs in the house.

Strangest of all, she was one of the keenest members of the local hunt.
 
A friend of my sister's looks after some animals for a guy who has a sort of wildlife collection - some are used for films but mainly they take the animals to schools to educate children. They had a couple of foxes and one pretty tame one. We went to see them (they are not kept in a house though, they are i out door pens with suitable hiding areas). The particular fox was stunning though - very shy of us strangers and did the whole submissive, 'smile' that dogs often do but did want to come and investigate us. She was very sweet ad much smaller than I expected and it did make it hard for me to think how people take pleasure in hunting these animals to be honest.
 
I thought FBurton was being sarky? :p

If this was the same fox that was on Autumnwatch or whatever a couple of weeks ago, while people were cooing and aahing over it, it was very, very stressed and not happy, compared to say, the raven, who was loving all the attention and walking around like he owned the place.
Having said that, a spooky dog or a cat might not have been happy in that situation either.
 
Oh yes, forgot about that. Bet it is the same one. To be honest she looked ok when she went under the table and actually, although I would say my dog is pretty confident I don't think she'd have much liked that situation either in all honesty.
 
think this is lovely something really nice to see :) not everyones cup of tea but hey some people think horses are no better than pigs or cows, it's all a matter of opinion :) its really made my night!
 
ladyt25 said:
Oh yes, forgot about that. Bet it is the same one. To be honest she looked ok when she went under the table and actually, although I would say my dog is pretty confident I don't think she'd have much liked that situation either in all honesty.
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She was going for the smallest, tightest, darkest space she could.
Watch it back, it's pretty stressy bodylanguage IMO.
 
What a cutie! I would love a pet fox! But my doggie is good enough for me :P

(I couldn't find the video) but from the pictures it seems fine :)
When it gets dangerous/cruel, is when some idiot imports, buys, 'rescues' or adopts some wild animal for status or "omg it's so cute"

Can't see a problem with this though!
 
We had a fox in our garden for a while and found her playing with my JRT. I was terrified she was hurting it but realised they were fine together. We were very bad and actually left it food and even offered it sausages by hand (which it took very gently). One evening I came into the living room to find it sitting in front of the TV with the dog watching Eastender:eek: I had left the doors open. It ran out straight away when it realised I was back. I have photos of them together sitting there taken on my phone.
The dog would look out for her and go and play in the garden each evening.
Sadly she just disappeared one day and would guess she was run over:(

I think it is wrong to encourage them in general but this one somehow stole our hearts. I am not sure about keeping them as pets though.
I am even pro hunt so not sure what I was thinking of really:o She was dead cute though.
 
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