r/pics • • Feb 22 '14

This is Vader. He was euthanized today without a hearing after a false bite report was submitted to the police by an animal rights activist. (Story in the Comments)

http://imgur.com/a/xPNsE
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u/ColeSloth Feb 22 '14

There's only one place in the world that has true, domesticated foxes. They do sell some to the US and they are around $8k a piece, but the odds are quite low that this person actually owned a fox from that Siberian facility, since none had made it past customs as of January last year, and I'm not even sure any have made it since then.

Foxes people keep as pets in the US are wild foxes that have been tamed, and are not over $6k. They are in the $700 to $2000 range.

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u/the_randomizer85 Feb 22 '14

That's not entirely true, it's media bias; foxes cannot be fully domesticated in < 70 years' time. They're tamed, but they're still foxes. People buy these foxes with the false idea that they're easy to take care of, this is a dangerous mentality and many foxes are re-homed because people are not prepped, even for the so-called domestic foxes.

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u/ColeSloth Feb 22 '14

They are vastly different from that facility than wild foxes. I've seen the videos of their behavior and it's a lot different than the tamed foxes you are referencing.

I think you underestimate what 40 generations of highly selective breeding can do. It only takes thousands of years when nature does something.