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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you like to see foxes domesticated?

117 replies

freedomformeismotherhood · 10/04/2026 22:50

Scrolling on tiktok and seeing them in people's houses having dinner 😄

What would you think if your neighbour took one in?

Yabu - horrified
Yanbu - wouldn't mind it, its a positive move forwards

OP posts:
MandingoAteMyBaby · 11/04/2026 10:11

Definitely not. It’s a slippery slope to today’s dog nightmare.

People would start genetically engineering them to look bizarre as they did with canines.

Would you like to see foxes domesticated?
Would you like to see foxes domesticated?
PGmicstand · 11/04/2026 10:12

I'd love on!
I've seen them described as "dogs running on cat hardware" and that about sums it up for me.

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 11/04/2026 10:12

As far as I am aware they are only domesticatable up to a point, currently. They are near to impossible to house train (but then I've got a terrier like that). I think it would take years of very careful breeding to turn out a fox that could be humanised enough to follow cues and commands. After all, the wolves that have been so-called 'domesticated' make very unreliable pets, because they don't have enough history with humans to be able to be trained because they really don't care enough about people to want to please them.

So you could make a pet out of a fox, but they really do smell and, while it might appear to be affectionate, it would eat your corpse as soon as look at you.

redboxer321 · 11/04/2026 10:13

SilenceInside · 11/04/2026 10:08

I don't think any animal should be domesticated by humans. It's invariably shit for the animals and is for the entertainment of humans only. We should really have learnt by now that the best thing for animals is to leave them the heck alone, and not to destroy their habitats as much as we can possibly manage.

This. 1000%.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 11/04/2026 10:15

No thanks. Far too noisy and territorial. We are in London and have a large urban fox population where we are.

They are chaos on 4 legs. I’ve had to break up noisy fights on our driveway. Been woken up at 2am by a fox sitting on top of a neighbour car announcing its presence. Now we’re into breeding season we have the joy of listening to a chorus of something that sounds like a cross between a distressed cat and a baby crying for ages.

They also really good climbers and jumpers so don’t think standard fences would keep them in or out.

I think they are beautiful to look at but I think they would be rubbish pets and are better as they are.

Tacohill · 11/04/2026 10:16

They’re beautiful but no way it’s cruel to domesticate things that don’t need to be domesticated.

We have already domesticated way too many animals.

They are evolved to live in the wild, that’s where they’re happiest - not in someone’s front room.

Why do some people have to ruin and control things.
And we wonder how slavery existed.

likewhatyoudo · 11/04/2026 10:23

freedomformeismotherhood · 10/04/2026 23:03

😄 I was awwing through your post and then became horrified by the end 😄

Foxes aren’t domesticated in Australia, anymore than they are in UK .

Dogs get stuck when mating too. Saw this happen to two scruffy street dogs in a tourist area in central Madrid. It was quite funny. Lots of gawping tourists. Dogs seemed pretty confused too. As i recall, i read that it’s something to do with male dog swelling, and it takes awhile to go down enough for them to separate. 😯

Monty36 · 11/04/2026 10:27

For goodness sake. They are a wild animal and should remain so. Seeking to domesticate them would be to require them to behave in ways which are not right for them. All for our benefit and certainly not for theirs. They do not exist for our entertainment.
Absolutely 100% no.

LakieLady · 11/04/2026 10:28

MrsMitford3 · 10/04/2026 23:02

They are def trying to domesticate themselves!!
Why wouldn't they?

I agree.

The foxes that visit my garden no longer do a runner when I go out there. They don't scarper when someone walks along the street, either, at least not until they get very close. They seem to be losing their fear of humans imo, at least urban foxes do. And one often sunbathes on my garage roof, and doesn't bat an eyelid when I go out there.

I don't think they should be domesticated though, much as I love them. They need to be out and about, going about their foxy business, even though they make a shocking racket from time to time.

Denim4ever · 11/04/2026 10:38

Recent hols in the Lake District in a country side village we neither saw nor heard foxes. At home at the outer edge of a small city close to fields, commons etc. we see them all the time. The next lane up from us has 4 houses empty but with building works. Foxes live in the gardens. They don't like ours as it's small but often move from garden to garden via our fences and shed roof in broad daylight. At night we can hear them. They fight, mate , bark and howl. They are bold as brass, I don't think domesticating them even over time through breeding is appealing. They are not like cats or dogs

BMW6 · 11/04/2026 11:00

OP it's taken humans thousands of years to domesticate dogs......cats are still an ongoing project.

You aren't going to have a pet fox in your life.

allchange5 · 11/04/2026 12:02

I'm not sure they can or should be domesticated, although the conditions humans have imposed on their 'wildness' is tragic. I think I read that only 1 in 5 foxes makes it past the age of 1 year due to being hit by traffic on our roads.

Meanwhile, in the countryside the horror of fox hunting is still not fully banned. How can this be?

So, whilst I agree with the people arguing that foxes have evolved as wild animals and must be respected as such, I also see their wildness as something of an illusion because of the Anthropocene, urbanisation and human 'sport' - such that foxes are forced to live as 'liminal' animals on the edges of human habitation amid roads and traffic they can't possibly comprehend and which is cutting their lives too short.

For these reasons, I feed a group of 3 foxes every night. I see it as a small act of reparation for the tragedies humans inflict on them. I'm in London. They are reasonably 'tame-ish' in the sense that they wait for me and don't scarper completely when I go out. They do keep their distance though. I don't make much eye contact close up as it can scare them and I would never try to touch them. Also I wouldn't want them to become too trusting of all humans as we all know too many humans are not to be trusted! They do recognise me on the street too, if I go out to Tesco in the evening. One is a bit lame, possibly hit by a car maybe. But they're ok and if I can make their short lives a bit easier, why not? Our cats are not scared of them at all - in fact, the cats chase them if anything.

Rather than thinking about domesticating foxes, we need to be thinking structurally about the 'other than human life' that exists in the interstices of our cities and human infrastructures. For instance, how can we keep foxes off busy roads? Could major dual carriageways and motorways be required to have wildlife fences along them?

SerendipityJane · 11/04/2026 12:16

LakieLady · 11/04/2026 10:28

I agree.

The foxes that visit my garden no longer do a runner when I go out there. They don't scarper when someone walks along the street, either, at least not until they get very close. They seem to be losing their fear of humans imo, at least urban foxes do. And one often sunbathes on my garage roof, and doesn't bat an eyelid when I go out there.

I don't think they should be domesticated though, much as I love them. They need to be out and about, going about their foxy business, even though they make a shocking racket from time to time.

One persons self domestication is another persons evolution.

We're not plagued with foxes here (that I know of). However when it snows I often see a line of fox prints that appear to be patrolling our house 😀

I have seen foxes on our lawn - and they have seen me. But like the fox that I saw walking down our road once, they exuded an attitude 😎- a kind of insouciant look up of "... and ????" as they dare me to react.

Can foxes catch rats ? Seems a fair trade.

SooticaTheWitchesCat · 11/04/2026 13:25

I love foxes but I think anyone who thinks they can be tamed should watch The Fox and the Child

Justthethingsthatyoudointhisgarden · 11/04/2026 13:52

They're wild animals, living free lives. Leave them alone and get a bloody dog.

Ilovelurchers · 11/04/2026 14:27

Interesting thread!

Imagining they would be kept by people who would otherwise have chosen a dog, I can see lots of advantages.

  • being smaller than most dogs, they eat less, so the carbon footprint is lower.
  • they don't have the same inbreeding related health problems as breeds like Frenchies and pugs
  • they are much less powerful than lots of dog breeds, so can do less harm if badly trained. I am sure a fox could give you a nasty nip, but it couldn't bite your face off easily.

So yeah, I am all for them, based on my current limited knowledge.

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