#juniperfoxx

Fox Tattoos

I'm absolutely agreeing with you. the owner of these animals also owns dogs, an opossum, a sugar glider, and does wildlife rehab. at the very least I can somewhat say these animals are in good hands. they are in generally good health and such. however, foxes are NOT pets, they are wild animals. they are offered an outdoor pen, but are also allowed in the house. there are also several examples of the foxes squabbling amongst themselves as there are at least 4 (once 5?) in the same household. and she's guilty of anthropomorphising too, which is bad because of the insane following she has. please don't tell your followers your fox "smiled back" after getting kisses. they don't smile. they're foxes. even if it was a happy expression, the same expression is a sign of discomfort in dogs, and most people don't care to note the difference in species.

one of the most alarming thing I saw was her support for SaveAFox (check this post, it's BAD) and horrific choice of words towards furfarming. believe it or not, breeding animals domestically for their products is not a bad thing, and farm animals don't need "saving". you buying the broiler hen isn't going to make a difference and will prolong suffering to the animal, buying a reptile feeder mouse to treat as a pet isn't going to make a difference, it just makes the people feel good. I'm firmly of the opinion if we want to start doing anything about the climate crisis, we need to shift away from plastic faux fur which lasts a couple years to real fur which can last generations AND keep you warmer. there are welfare issues to be had in how furfarms operate, but this is true for other products like poultry, and does not mean we should abolish, it simply means it needs reform, but I digress.

I also noticed her sugar glider appeared to have been purchased from a neglectful keeper, supporting their business. as sad as it is, animals being mistreated by another owner should not be purchased to be "rescued", as this will support the owner to continue mistreating more animals, this is why you see people saying never to buy from Petco, even if you see lizards overcrowded or deathly thin. what comes off as a sweet sentiment is actually supporting this treatment of animals to continue.

one of the other things that really put me off was one of her foxes, Lore, was very unwell and unfortunately passed away following complications. I was more uncomfortable with the fact that she knew these two didn't get along, but let Juniper in anyway because she was "insisting". this interaction is cute, but what if it went wrong? comparably a nitpick, but it's not something I would risk with my cats let alone wild foxes. and, again, anthropomorphisation.

regardless, she could've done everything right, and it still wouldn't excuse the fact she runs a social media account on her animals. she touts it as "educational", but there's nothing to be learned from foxes in a household. no doubt none of the followers care to read the footnote on her posts disclaiming "foxes aren't good pets btw". it is irresponsible to use your platform to continually anthropomorphise wild animals being kept in arguably incorrect conditions when a follower base of 3 million people would absolutely not know better.

I'm not a master at fox body language, so I didn't go into detail with anything regarding behaviour or body language, but anybody who does know can shed some light on if they're comfortable/happy or not.