What should we do?
realy cute fox, by the way do you know what does the fox say?
eddited: ups it seens that some ones has alredy post that
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Beautiful! and her eyes ♡.♡ what a pure soul. Give her love! (assuming it's a she)
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It's so sad that cute animals like foxes and raccoons are the most prone to rabies.
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Foxes are so cute!
You know, dogs are coming more from foxes than from wolfs :). If you keep few next generations they will start to lose colour and change a little built of their body remembering more and more our fellow friends.
I think you can pet it then, it would be amazing! Just be sure to learn about it as much as you can to not harm it, yourself and so on. Many wise word was told already.
Let us know what was your decision and maybe keep us update how he feels, grows etc ^^
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The human that hunters a fox deserves a cruel death.
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I've seen people with foxes as tame as dogs ... hell ... my friend's grandfather had a pet wolf (can't remember if he had a license ... maybe if there's something akin to an Exotic Pet License or something). Of course I don't really know how things work in Australia as I live in the US. Seeing as you have sentiments against releasing it or euthanizing it, I would keep it or try to find someone that will.
(Zoos are also an option if you have one nearby.)
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Find someone to adopt it - give it to a person who know how to treat them.
As I know 90% of people don't know how to treat animals with are not dog or cat...
F.ex. my hamster live in a 160x55x60 cm terrarium, where the minimum live standard for them is 100x50x40 cm (as I remember, but I don't like minimums...)
and have special toys and equipment.
Wheel should be at least 8 times LONGER than the hamster - mine two are: 10x and 15
The food is also quite different than "standard pet shop".
In result my hamster didn't die at 2 / 3 year old.
He can live even 7 or 8 years if we would be lucky enough.
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That's a really tricky situation you're in. Foxes are smart, and can indeed be kept as pets, if you know what you're doing. As with most non-domesticated animals though, they can be unpredictable, so keeping them around children or other pets might not be a good idea.
Ideally you should try to find someone who can castrate it, though if they are illegal to keep, then that might be hard. After that, it should be both easier to handle, and if it runs away, won't create more foxes in the wild.
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Where I live in semi-rural England there are a lot of foxes about. They are lovely animals to spot in the wild but they are a real pest about the house. They try and get into the bins and such (which I could shrug off for the sake of coexisting with the local wildlife), but a few times they have nearly had my cat and my neighbours and family have certainly lost chickens and other animals to them. However cute they are they are very much predators.
As a problematic invasive species in your area it would be really irresponsible to release it back into the wild. We have problems with a few invasive species round here and it is really sad to see the damage that they do do the natural ecology. You can tame the things if you get them young enough but firstly I suspect you'd struggle to get permission from the authorities for that and I wouldn't recommend trying to do it illegally. And secondly keeping the things as pets is a bad idea if for no other reason than the stink.
The idea of euthanizing such an animal sounds terrible - but I think it may be the only sensible option in the circumstances. Sorry you have found yourself with such a dilemma.
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It seems to have more energy now and it has started eating. A couple of strawberries, and some decent chunks of chicken out of the dogfood.
Thanks again to everyone who's offered their thoughts. As for what happens, still in the process of making the final decision but the one option we've definitely eliminated is releasing it into the wild again.
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It seems it might be legal to keep foxes as pets in Australia (at least in some jurisdictions) so I would see if you can call someone up and check. http://sydneyfoxrescue.com/ seems to have some advice and offers some basic services and can take it in if you need to give it up.
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This looked like the most useful organisation for going that route. However more recent developments over the last year have impacted on their ability to do the work they've been doing.
These pages have a bit more information:
https://www.facebook.com/SydneyFoxRescue/videos/737267503085529/
https://www.facebook.com/SydneyFoxRescue/
Basically there's a pest control order on red foxes now, and new permits for keeping them won't be issued after the order was enacted (last year).
I've also tried calling them twice now, both times just go to an answering service. I am fairly confident that for whatever reason (probably legal reasons) they are no longer responding to people contacting them by phone.
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OMG! IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE! DAMN THE LAWS! KEEP IT!
Quickly googles how to get a pet fox in TN
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Found this site on the care and feeding and keeping - you're gonna need some kind of pen when you go to work....
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no experience there so can't help (sorry) though it certainly looks cute
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As an invasive species, releasing it into the wild again is not an option, and I'm glad to see that you've eliminated that possibility in your update about an hour ago. It is possible to tame a fox if you can teach it from a young enough age, and that fox definitely looks to be young enough to tame. I can't tell you what to do, since you will have to live with the consequences either way, but I can tell you that I would probably keep it as a pet. If the law ever came calling about it, I would do my best to feign ignorance and let them know I thought I had a strange-looking ginger dog.
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If you have kids, i wouldn't advise on keeping it.
Euthanazy should be the last resort (just look at him/her). As people stated above try to find out if you have the ability to keep it and i don't mean regarding the law as it's more humane to keep it than to abide by the law and euthanized him, but that you have a fenced garden (you wouldn't want him to attack your neighbors chicken or something), the patience, the knowledge and the will to raise him right. If you do have these requirements go for it. I bet it'll be gratefull to have been in such luck finding you. If unfortunately for some reason you can't keep it, try to find an organisation or some decent people willing to take him in.
The only animal i found in my appartment was a big-ass bat.... I caught her and released her though, she wasn't as cute as your intruder and these things can be nasty. :D
Good luck with that handsome little thing!
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You are all forgetting to ask one simple question!
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Poor baby so cute! ♥ It looks plenty big enough to be weaned; I'd definitely seek the advice of a professional, and either keep it or adopt it.
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I voted for "keep it", moslty beacuse it's cute =P
But I don't think I'd have kept it if I were in you, because I don't think I'll have the perseverance to take care of it.. seems a bit too demanding for me
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FINAL UPDATE: The little fox was given to a good home! Final picture: Clicky
UPDATE 1: After some days caring for the little one, things are looking good at this stage that it will be given a home. For a number of reasons, including that we have dogs already and we wouldn't have the time to look after a puppy let alone a tiny fox, it is impractical for us to keep it. It's complicated enough for the people who seek to adopt, what with foxes having a pest control order legislated only recently and special permits being necessary.
Original post:
Last night our dogs discovered an animal in the bedroom. At first I thought we'd had another possum come inside, as they tend to find their way down the chimney every now and then. Shining a torch under the dresser where it was hiding, I was startled to find a fox! Fortunately it was only a little one (a cub? A kit actually). We were able to catch it pretty easily with a towel (as I have done with possums, with care) and it was surprisingly very tame.
Foxes are pests in Australia though and any place we talk to will advise euthanizing it. Seems reasonable as they can cause significant damage to the native wildlife here, just as feral cats would. This one being just a
cubkit though, it's so harmless, it might have been orphaned. Doesn't seem to be eating either so maybe it was still living on milk, though it could just be that it's frightened.In any case, ethically we don't think it's an option to release it into the wild again as 1) it is a pest technically and 2) if it was recently orphaned it's likely it will not survive on its own and may suffer (starve or get attacked by other predators).
I've heard there are people that adopt foxes as pets, and this one seems like a good candidate for that as it appears so young and tame, but we don't know how practical that is nor how legal that is (it almost certainly isn't, certainly not without a permit of some kind).
All said, the thing is damn adorable. Just look at the pictures below!
What do you guys think? Anyone have experience with foxes, other than hunting them?
Obligatory themed giveaways:
Greyfox
Spy Fox in: Dry Cereal
Fox & Flock
Fitz the Fox
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