How a furry-convention-attending, Midwestern-accented fox owner teamed up with a bizarre Floridian exotic animal importer and a Soviet geneticist to bring pet foxes to your living room.
Do a YouTube search for pretty much any smallish animal you can
think of and there'll be several videos of a "tame" or "pet" version.
Any feline, any canid, any mustelid (weasel), any procyonid (raccoon),
any non-bonkers primate (baboons, which are completely terrifying, are
exempt). Look at my pet kinkajou, my pet genet, my pet fennec fox, my
pet ocelot. And then on the videos of cute furry animals in the wild,
you'll see the comments: "omg i want it." When the internet sees a video
of a red panda, the internet wants a red panda. Even though a red panda
is endangered and a wild animal.
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.
But domesticated foxes, which can only be found at that Siberian
facility, are not horrible pets. They're a little unconventional, and
they require a little bit of extra attention, but if you want a pet fox,
you can have a pet fox. All you need is $8,000 and the approval of Kay
Fedewa, the exclusive importer of domesticated foxes in the US.
What Is Domestication?
Domestication is not like taming. You can tame many wild animals so
they won't try to kill you, by raising them from birth, but that's just
learned behavior; that animal is unlikely to exhibit what we know as
affection toward you, and the behavior it does have is not passed down
to the tamed animal's offspring. Domestication is actually change at the
genetic level: an animal repeatedly breeds, either through intentional
human effort or not (or a combination of the two), to emphasize certain
behavioral traits. In the case of animals that would, in the wild, be
aggressive towards humans, those traits are easy to decide on: we want
the most docile, least aggressive, and least skittish animal.
The Institute picked foxes on which to experiment for a few reasons.
They're canids, like dogs, so it would be easy to compare them to a
domesticated species, but they're not particularly closely related to
dogs, so there's enough separation to see how forced domestication
affects a new species. Also, these foxes were already "tame"--they were
picked up from fur farms in Siberia, so they had a jump-start in
adjusting to humans. But theoretically, you could domesticate just about
any wild animal: mink have been domesticated in Denmark, and some have
proposed domestication of certain rare but cuddly animals, like red
pandas, as a means to save the species.
The Soviet (and later, Russian) study out there in Siberia did
eventually breed a domesticated silver fox (read: a red fox with silver
fur) that's pretty close to our dream fox. It loves and craves attention
from people, it'll lick your face, it'll cuddle with you, it'll wag its
giant puffy tail when it sees you, it'll play with toys in your house
while you try to take the perfect Instagram picture of it. Wild foxes
will not do this; they will either run away from you or attempt to bite
your face off. Tame foxes may not flee or attack, but they also won't
cuddle. These domesticated foxes, on the other hand, have between 30 and
35 generations of selective breeding behind them, with careful
monitoring to ensure a lack of inbreeding, and they're not even close to
wild--in fact, they probably wouldn't survive in the wild.
Siberian Domestic Fox
Institute of Cytology and Genetics
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 that
looked more like a dog. But they're not as easy to acquire as a dog.
Where Can I Get One?
For a brief time, a company called SibFox was selling foxes bred at
the Siberian lab. They were selling for about $6,000, but it's not clear
that anyone ever actually received one of these foxes. The Daily reported
that two foxes that actually shipped to the States ended up confiscated
at the US border and shipped to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary,
where they are doing "wonderfully." Apparently these foxes were kept in
dog kennels, which is improper, and weren't fed or watered properly--by
all accounts, the SibFox people were not licensed and were inexperienced
at importing exotic animals. The only upside is that the animals
survived the journey from Russia. SibFox refunded the customers' money,
stopped responding to emails, and shut down their website. Until now, SibFox was the closest anyone in the US had gotten to receiving a domesticated fox.
Then there are breeders like Tiny Tracks Exotic Animals, located
outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana, specializing in several varieties of fox
(red fox, gray fox, and arctic fox) as well as supposedly tame
raccoons, skunks, and coatis (a Central/South American mammal closely
related to the raccoon). Want a pet arctic fox? That'll run you $600.
Red foxes are a little cheaper, at $400. That's cheaper than a skunk
($450) and waaaay cheaper than something more exotic, like a kinkajou,
which runs anywhere from $1,200 to $3,000. For comparison, a purebred
Siberian husky can run you anywhere from $400 to $2,000, depending on
its breeding and the reputation of the breeder.
But none of these foxes, the ones that cost a few hundred dollars,
are "domesticated." They are wild foxes. Wild foxes are not pets; they
are wild animals. The word "tame" means essentially nothing here--it
mostly means "nice when it's a baby." The foxes from Siberia are pets.
Foxes from Indiana? Wild.
(Tiny Tracks repeatedly did not respond to requests for comment; Kay
Fedewa described the people who run it as "not very nice people, really
quite rude, even to the people they're selling animals to.")
Indiana is something of a promised land for exotic pet farms and
owners, a libertarian wonderland where for a mere ten-dollar processing
fee you can have a pet grizzly bear. Neighboring Kentucky, hardly a
state you'd think would be prude about wild animals, is a fairly typical
example of state laws: anything "inherently dangerous," which includes
venomous animals (snakes, lizards), huge animals (hippos, elephants),
and animals that would prefer to murder you than let you pat them on the
head (big cats, bears, baboons) are all outlawed. But so is any animal
that has never naturally lived in Kentucky, mostly to avoid issues with
invasive species. Most states simply ban any normally "wild" animal from
being kept as a pet.
Wild Red Foxes
Wikimedia Commons
But not Indiana! Indiana has three classes of wild animals.
Class 1 is mostly squirrels. Class 2 includes foxes, beavers, skunks,
raccoons, coyotes, and weasels. Class 3 includes "venomous reptiles,"
and all species of bear, big cat, and wolf. All three classes are legal!
In fact, the only thing that separates Class 3 animals, which are
banned pretty much everywhere else, is that a letter is sent to the
hopeful leopard-owner's neighbors. If 25 or more neighbors respond with a
letter saying they are not interested in having a leopard on the block,
the leopard is not allowed. Otherwise, no problem, sir. What's your
leopard's name?
Even more insane is that Indiana provides no law preventing you from
owning an endangered species. Here's what the state document says:
"Endangered species of wild animals will be considered Class I, II or
III by the division director's designee and must follow the same
procedures accordingly for that class of animal." So, basically, your
local bureaucrat will decide if your pet western lowland gorilla is a
Class 2 or 3 animal, then you give him a ten-spot for processing, and
you're all set, the proud owner of one of about fourteen western lowland
gorillas. Maybe you can take it to see the home of former president
Benjamin Harrison in the lovely Old Northside Historic District of
Indianapolis.
It's worth noting that Maine is even more lenient than Indiana; the
only real law in Maine is that wild animals have to have an
identification tag. Yet Mainers seem mostly uninterested in owning pet
jaguarundis, at least in comparison with Hoosiers.
Foxes are only legal in a handful of states. This is a pretty good guide.
In some the laws are a little flexible; in Michigan, where Fedewa
lives, you can have only a native species, meaning the various colors of
red fox. The grey fox, which is a totally different species more
commonly found in the western and southern states, is not allowed, nor
is the arctic or fennec fox. A few states simply ban taking foxes from
the wild. But the laws are often vague and open to interpretation, which
can lead to trouble for fox owners who may or may not be in violation.
Eric Mason currently lives in Arkansas, and is one of the most dedicated and visible fox owners on the internet. He posts dozens of videos
of his pet red fox, named Ron, on YouTube, and is very active on all
kinds of pet fox forums. He's also highly active on furry forums, where
he posts under the name Albi Azul. His profile on FurAffinity.net
says, "I live on the awesome furry and TF artwork of yall artists here,
but I have the privilege and responsibility to love and take care of my
pet red fox Ron! Greetings from Mountain Home, Arkansas!" He has a
mostly unused DeviantArt page and has posted many pictures of himself in
a giant blue fox costume, along with trip reports from furry
conventions. Exotic animal owners often end up in the furry community;
the level of obsession and dedication needed to care for an
unconventional pet is much higher than for a dog or cat owner, so exotic
pet owners tend to make their pets a more prominent part of their lives
than other pet owners. It's also not everyone who wants an exotic so
badly they'll rearrange their lives around it; even Fedewa says these
people tend to be "a little eccentric."
Eric's fox Ron is not domesticated, but is among the most tame I've
ever seen. Watching videos of Ron compared to Fedewa's fox Anya, it's
clear that Anya is more affectionate, more dog-like, less skittish and a
little more easy to control and train than Ron. But Ron is still just
about the best-case scenario if you're going for a non-Siberian fox.
Eric's compiled several lists exploring the legality of owning a pet
fox in every state. I believe he at one point lived in Pennsylvania.
Though the law states that foxes are illegal to own except for purposes
of fur harvesting, Eric suggests talking to "Jason in the permits
department" in Harrisburg because "otherwise, you will get conflicting
stories." But Eric and the breeders at Tiny Tracks are playing a very
different game than Fedewa.
Who's Doing It Legally?
"I grew up reading Jack London and those kinds of animal stories,"
says Fedewa. "And I also like comics, so I decided to combine them." She
had had an idea for a London-inspired comic about wolves while she was
in middle school, and while attending the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor she self-published the comic, now called The Blackblood Alliance.
It caught on with the furry community, which, says Fedewa, is why she
started going to furry conventions ("furrycons"). "I'd wear a tail and
ears to the furrycons," she says. "I'm not really into that but when
you're in the cons, it's fun, everyone's dressed up, it's like
Halloween."
But foxes had a special place for her. "I was always crazy about
foxes," says Fedewa. "It was the first animal I really loved, and I
always wanted one as a pet." But Fedewa, despite what I expected from a
Siberian-fox-importer who writes wolf comics and attends furry
conventions, is not an especially odd person. Fedewa is a 27-year-old
Michigan native who works in the videogame industry, doing modeling,
texturing, and user interface work for a company called Stardock. She
speaks with a thick and charming Michigan accent, and talks about her
love of animals with self-awareness and humor--she knows what it sounds
like, investing years of her life into acquiring a rare domesticated
Siberian fox, knows that it's not something most people would do, but
she's not apologetic. "I like animals and I think it's fun to take care
of them," she says. And it kind of is that simple. She wanted a fox! No
big deal!
But she also has her own life and had no interest in attempting to
wrangle one of the "tame" foxes from a place like Tiny Tracks. "I didn't
want to force myself on a wild animal that hates me, that I'm forcing
to live with me," she says. And that's what you'll get from a "tame"
fox; there's a huge range in personality, so you might luck out and get
one that's amenable to living with a human, like Mason's fox Ron, but
you might have one that wants nothing to do with you or even one that's
violent. Even worse, when wild/tame foxes age from juvenile to mature,
they go through hormonal changes and can become extremely aggressive.
("They turn into real bastards," says Fedewa.) That's common to many
animals; primates are well-known for this abrupt change. But a true
domesticated animal doesn't suffer this problem.
After she discovered the Siberian institute, Fedewa got curious. "I
contacted the Institute last year," she says, "and talked to them about
[legally] importing one of the foxes. No one had ever done that before."
The way to do this legally is to find a licensed exotic animal
importer--and she found her man in Mitch Kalmanson.
How Do You Get These Foxes?
"I have 34 tigers in my backyard," Mitch Kalmanson told me, early in
our phone conversation. "I picked [another] one up yesterday." Also in
his backyard, a 200-acre property just north of Orlando, Florida, are
lions, cougars, leopards, a liger (a lion/tiger mix), a yak, minks,
dogs, and assorted herd animals--horses, watusi (an African breed of
cattle), zebu (an Indian breed of cattle), and emu. He also has three
domesticated foxes.
"I have 34 tigers in my backyard."Kalmanson
is a professional exotic animal importer, licensed by the US Department
of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Those different licenses cover the
various jobs he has--he maintains exotic animals on his property, but
he also ventures across the world to obtain animals for zoos,
laboratories, private customers, and whoever else needs a herd of watusi
or a couple of dolphins. He's also a risk manager for Lloyd's of
London, the British insurance market, and insures exotic animals. He
insures zoos, circuses, private facilities, labs--pretty much anyone who
needs insurance on an exotic, they call Mitch. He's also a high school
dropout, though he's since acquired a college degree and has taken many
post-graduate classes. I got the sense he found traditional schooling a
waste of time, an imprecise way to get where he wanted to go.
He is an off-putting person to talk to. Kay was chatty, friendly,
funny; she was worried I'd paint her as a weirdo, which is the kind of
thing no weirdo would ever think to say. I think Mitch Kalmanson might
be a weirdo. That has absolutely no bearing on his professional
aptitude, which is considerable, but makes for a curious phone
conversation. Kalmanson speaks very quickly, very precisely; he does not
elaborate, he does not add in anecdotes or facts or insight you didn't
ask for, and he has a very curious habit of saying his piece and then
just falling silent and waiting for your next move. Most people, during
interviews, if they finish answering a question and don't immediately
get a followup, will continue talking--they'll try to fill the silence
with more words, or questions, or something. Mitch does not; it
was like he was reading a prepared statement and when he finished it,
he was done talking. But he also knows his stuff very, very deeply. The
effect of his odd conversational style is an impression of total
confidence and competence.
He seemed much more comfortable talking dispassionately about his
work and his facilities--when I asked for his opinion on these
domesticated foxes, he hesitated, for the first and only time. "I got
three at the house now," he said. "They're very smart, smarter than a
damn dog. Unique and curious animals." He forcefully corrected me when I
referred to foxes bred by breeders like Tiny Tracks as "tame." "They're
not tame," he said--almost snapped, though he's not rude, exactly.
"They claim that because the babies are tame. But at 10 months, they'll
turn. That's why they typically won't show you any older animals."
When Fedewa called him up and asked him about going to Siberia to
retrieve domesticated foxes, Kalmanson did his homework, interviewed her
repeatedly, and decided she was up to his standards. He stopped just
short of saying "does not compute" when I asked if he liked Fedewa.
"Like" is irrelevant. She was deemed an acceptable business partner. So
last February, he got on a plane and flew out to Siberia. The laboratory
there sold him a year-old domesticated female red fox for $3,200. The
blood testing was done by a farm veterinarian out in Russia, though
Mitch had to fabricate his own cage--he says a standard dog kennel isn't
up to the task of containing a fox. Then he flew back. His fee is high,
between six and twelve thousand dollars, but in the future, he'll be
able to bring back up to seven domesticated fox kits at a time, which
will be cheaper per fox. Fedewa plans to sell the foxes for about $8,000
each.
With Mitch's help, Fedewa created The Domestic Fox,
a project that she hopes will make yearly trips to Siberia to obtain
fox kits for owners in North America and Europe. The foxes are available
in several color morphs--these are all red foxes, Vulpes vulpes,
but their fur can vary in color from the classic red to black to silver
to white. If you contact her now, you can snag a fox born this spring,
and receive it sometime in fall 2013.
Domestic Fox Kits
via The Domestic Fox
How's A Domesticated Fox As A Pet?
So what's it like to have a domesticated fox as a pet? Not quite like
a dog, says Fedewa--a fox isn't a cool-looking dog, it's a different
animal with different behavioral quirks. "Foxes are highly intelligent,"
says Fedewa, "and because of that they're ridiculously curious." Fedewa's fox, Anya,
is not very big--only about 10 pounds, the weight of a mid-sized cat,
though with her fluffy winter fur, she appears much larger. Anya is
prone to digging up potted plants and chewing on them; foxes have a much
stronger digging impulse than domesticated dogs. They also need an
outdoor enclosure.
Fedewa's cost a few thousand dollars to build and is
filled with sand so Anya can dig. And fox urine is a major problem:
Fedewa says you should "imagine cat pee, but a million times worse. It
smells like skunk, it's the most pungent thing in the universe. If it
gets in your carpet, you need a special enzyme to break it down, so if
your fox marks [your home], that's pretty destructive." Some foxes can
be house-trained to use a litter box, but they will still sometime mark
their environment.
A fox isn't a cool-looking dog.Anya
is also not quite as trainable as a domestic dog; she can obey some
commands, but has a shorter attention span than most dogs. Going for
walks is also tricky. Fedewa says Anya will walk on a leash, but doesn't
like it much--she thinks Anya feels exposed and is tense and nervous.
Neighbors, too, have been a problem. Fedewa had to move once already. A
neighbor called the city, who sent over investigators and told her she
was not allowed to have the fox. This is not legally accurate, but the
legal fees required to fight that battle outweighed Fedewa's desire to
stay put. So she moved, to a more forgiving property with about an acre
of land in the southeastern corner of Michigan.
Those are minor hurdles for Fedewa, if they even are hurdles. That's
what comes with owning a fox. And in truth, those are very minor issues
in the world of exotics. Anya is affectionate, which hardly any exotics
are; she plays, she recognizes and craves attention from her owner. She
has quirks, but she is, distinctly, a pet. Both Fedewa and Kalmanson are
vocal about this distinction: exotic, non-domesticated animals are not
pets, and during my interviews, both Fedewa and Kalmanson expressed
disdain (mild from Fedewa, blunt from Kalmanson) for private citizens
who want to make wild animals their pets. But Anya is a pet.
Why Do I Even Want One?
We as humans have a desire to make the cuter wild animals our pets,
an impulse sometimes called "Bambi syndrome." It's a very peculiar
impulse. Wanting a pet is not peculiar, of course. Stanley Coren,
professor emeritus in the psychology department at the University of
British Columbia and expert on the subject of the dog-human
relationship, reminds us that even though city-dwellers tend to think of
domesticated animals in terms of housepet companions, they've been
incredibly important throughout human history. "Domestication did not
likely begin," he says, "because you really want a cute animal in your
house." The prevailing theory is that the domestication of the dog, for
example, began as certain dogs found free discarded food around early
human settlements. They bred with other dogs that could tolerate being
around humans, self-selecting for tameness. Then humans found that these
animals could serve a purpose, and bred them accordingly.
Organic Pest Control
Cats are often used as pest control in addition to as companions.
via The Sun
Domesticated animals are useful. Dogs are used for hunting, herding,
and security; cats are used for pest control, horses for transportation,
and a host of livestock animals (cows, sheep, goats, pigs) for food,
milk, or fur. But for a large percentage of the first world, that kind
of usefulness is mostly a bonus now, in our pursuit of owning a sentient
warm cute furry thing that likes us. Your cat caught a mouse? Aw, isn't
that cute. Oh, and call the exterminator when you get a chance. Ech,
mice.
Domestication of other animals is one of three traits most associated
with humans as a species, along with tool use and "symbolic behavior"
(language, art, rituals). A study by CalTech and UCLA found that when
shown pictures of animals, neurons in test subjects' amygdalas went
nuts--regardless of the cuddliness of the animal. In fact, the amygdala,
the part of the brain that processes memory and emotion, reacted much
more strongly to pictures of animals than to pictures even of people.
The theory is that reacting strongly to other animals--be they potential
enemy, food, or friend--was an essential development for early man, one
that's still found in our brains today.
So, we react strongly to animals. But why do we have the impulse to domesticate wild animals?
Kinkajou
A kinkajou, a procyonid (related to raccoons) that's an increasingly common exotic pet.
via San Francisco Zoo
They're Cute
Cuteness mostly comes from a particular configuration of facial features, along with other attributes like cleanliness and appearance of warmth. The sight of a cute mammal (and sometimes non-mammal, like certain bird species) triggers "releasing mechanisms." It's not complicated; we like things that look like babies (even if they're adult things--that's called "neoteny"), because it's in our best interest to want to protect and care for babies. That usually means, compared to body size, we are drawn to very large eyes, a short nose, and a large round head. We like symmetry and we like a lack of blemishes, because a symmetrical and blemish-free baby is more likely to be a healthy baby. So, duh. Baby animals are cute, we want to nurture them. That explains the popularity of exotics like the kinkajou, which looks like a furry human baby, even though it's closely related to raccoons than to primates.
Novelty and Narcissism
Dr. Coren says, "There's a real thing about novelty value with animals--everyone wants the most exotic breed of dog, for example." In the same way that some might flock toward the All-American golden retriever, others might want, say, a rare Norwegian Lundehund. Your pet can be a reflection of yourself, and having a rare animal can emphasize your own uniqueness and individuality. And what's rarer than a pet spotted genet or arctic fox? Exotic animals "reinforce your own identity and bring you social attention, which is very, very rewarding for human beings," says Coren.
Dr. Coren says, "There's a real thing about novelty value with animals--everyone wants the most exotic breed of dog, for example." In the same way that some might flock toward the All-American golden retriever, others might want, say, a rare Norwegian Lundehund. Your pet can be a reflection of yourself, and having a rare animal can emphasize your own uniqueness and individuality. And what's rarer than a pet spotted genet or arctic fox? Exotic animals "reinforce your own identity and bring you social attention, which is very, very rewarding for human beings," says Coren.
"If I've tamed a tiger and it lives in my house, I'm really quite macho."Going
along with that is our own stupid vanity. Having a rare purebred dog
doesn't just say "I am a special snowflake with a cool dog," it also
says "I am rich as hell, and can afford to import a puffin-hunting dog
from the remote fjords of Norway." Take a look at this list of presidential pets.
Back when a president was allowed to own up to his wealth and social
standing without having to pretend to be a regular guy, presidents had insane
pets. Herbert Hoover had two crocodiles. Teddy Roosevelt had a pet
badger named Josiah. Benjamin Harrison had two opossums, perhaps the
ugliest mid-sized North American mammal, and named them Mr. Reciprocity
and Mr. Protection. Calvin Coolidge, if he tried to maintain his
collection today, would be thrown in jail about twelve times over--dude
had a wallaby, a duiker, a black bear, two lion cubs, a pygmy hippo, and
a bobcat.
Not a one of those presidential exotics would make for a good pet.
Probably half of them would have loved nothing more than to kill and eat
its Commander in Chief. But having a pet bear says "I am tough." Having
a pet duiker says "I am worldly and informed." Having a pet wallaby
says...actually, I'm not sure what that says. Coolidge was a loony.
Aggression
There's a dark, dominant side to our desire for exotic pets. "It's a very male notion in some respects," says Coren. "If I've tamed a tiger and it lives in my house, I'm really quite macho." Even aside from atypical pets like foxes, many domestic-wild hybrids are increasing in popularity. Coydogs (dogs crossed with coyotes) and wolfdogs are more and more common. Hybrid cats are even more so--you can breed a domestic cat with almost any small wild feline and have yourself a pet that looks like it should be catching guinea fowl in the Serengeti. And it's yours, in your house.
There's a dark, dominant side to our desire for exotic pets. "It's a very male notion in some respects," says Coren. "If I've tamed a tiger and it lives in my house, I'm really quite macho." Even aside from atypical pets like foxes, many domestic-wild hybrids are increasing in popularity. Coydogs (dogs crossed with coyotes) and wolfdogs are more and more common. Hybrid cats are even more so--you can breed a domestic cat with almost any small wild feline and have yourself a pet that looks like it should be catching guinea fowl in the Serengeti. And it's yours, in your house.
Tamed wild animals--because, almost exclusively, these are not
properly domesticated animals, but merely wild animals raised by
humans--are an even bigger sign of your dominance. That arctic fox in
your family room? It curls up on your area rug and eats pet food from
the bodega, because you have conquered it. You are not afraid of the
wild; you have bent the wild to your will, and your will is for that
arctic fox to watch New Girl with your family on Tuesday nights.
This reason is the darkest because it often turns dangerous. The US Humane Society
considers wolfdogs wild animals--they are listed as the breed with the
sixth-highest bite statistics, and given their relative scarcity, that's
something like 15-20 times higher than non-hybrid dogs. Tamed red foxes
are incredibly destructive to property, often have a strong musk odor,
and can be dangerous to strangers or other pets. And some animals just
can't really even be tamed; Dr. Adam Miklosi from Hungary once tried an
experiment in which three-day-old wolf pups were given to testers. You'd
think the wolves would grow up tame, calmer. Not even close;
domestication is a genetic process, not a learned behavioral process,
and after 18 months the experiment had to be shut down because a whole
bunch of people had wolves in their homes.
* * *
Anya the Fox
Kay Fedewa
So, I want a pet fox. But I won't get one. Foxes do not make good pets; they have almost all of the bad traits in our Wheel of Exotic Pets.
And in my current state of residence, New York, no species of canidae
are permitted short of domestic dogs and fennec foxes. No pet red foxes
allowed. So in the meantime, I will continue to go hiking here in the
hills of the Northeast, where foxes are common, and I will take pictures
of them and post them on my Facebook, and I will still probably talk
about how much I wish it was in my living room. But I don't, not really.
Well, maybe a little.
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