According to this article
http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2016/04/11/inspired-zootopia-kids-china-are-begging-rare-protected-foxes-pets
Children from China are begging their parents for pet foxes as pets. The likely victims a rare protected fox known as a Fennec Foxes because they have big ears and remain small. They are sold for a little over three thousand dollars and some parents are giving into their children's whining.
For me this is alarming because they are wild animal, even more than they are protected. You shouldn't have a wild animal as a pet much less a pet in a very small apartment. It takes centuries to properly domesticate an animal. On some level, cats aren't fully domesticated and neither are bunnies if you compare them to how domesticated dogs, oxen, cows, and sheep are. What are your thoughts?
Children adopting wild animals as pets usually end up in neglect or animal abuse. A child wants them because a fennec fox is cute or cool looking, like a toy instead of a living being. Most parents buying exotic animals don't bother with performing some valuable previous research, thus they remain ignorant enough to not take the required responsibility. At least I expect that those animals end up in a suitable place such as an animal refuge.
This seems a little strange and a bit dangerous, and I am wondering what sort of cultural factors are at play here in China that is allowing this to happen. If it has not been considered a pet before but all of the sudden it is, it seems like a strange thing to just start happening all of the sudden. They are very cute animals, so maybe word of mouth is just very effective there. Either way, I hope that these animals are being respected and allowed to live as wild animals, because like [USER=140]@MUTTLIFE[/USER] stated it is not usually something that ends well otherwise.
This is terrible news, I really hope that their parents don't give in and actually get a fox. Fortunately they are very expensive and need special permits. We already have domesticated foxes and wolves, they are called dogs.
I could see why someone would want to adopt a Fennec Fox, but they need to be properly informed on how to care for them. I don't think we should EVER listen to children's reasoning behind wanting an animal. Children do not understand what comes with taking care of another life, so this has bad written all over it. It hurts my heart that parents are taking these animals in without knowing what comes with having a fox. From what I understand, Fennec Foxes are a handful and need tons of attention.
We don't have that type of fox in my area, but we do have a lot of other foxes. When they're puppies, they look like dog puppies, so I can see the attraction to them. But they're still wild animals and another thing to consider is that veterinarians aren't trained to care for wild animals. What works for a dog won't necessarily work for a fox when it comes to medications.
I have seen where someone adopted a wolf and it looks very good and scary too at the same time. I'm a bit worried for having such kind of pets with a wild side. What if it goes all out wild all of a sudden. How would you deal with it?
No matter how good they look, there's no way I would be interested in having a wild pet in my home. It doesn't matter if it's dog or cat, it's a complete no for me because they are capable of doing me harm. It's just like people who breed dogs with wolf, I'm never going to do that.
I would never be interested in adopting a wild Fennec Fox. What am I going to do with it? A wild Fennec Fox which I know is capable of killing its owner is what I will keep in my home...? God forbid bad thing!!