Dmitry K. Belyaev

It began in 1948 with Dmitry K. Belyaev, the head of Russia's Department of Fur Animal Breeding. The Department's purpose was to breed docile foxes to make them easier to raise and skin for fur, which had proved difficult with wild foxes.

Belyaev was a geneticist. In 1959, he began an experiment using 30 male foxes, and 100 vixens, from a fur farm in Estonia. He wanted to force domestication onto them.

The research continued for 40 years, and an estimated 45,000 foxes were killed in the process. Other than timid behavior, many they lost pigment in their fur, grew shorter tails, and developed neurological defects.

Funding was generated by selling the skins of foxes who were deemed unbreedable. By the end of the twentieth century, economic changes evaporated most revenue from pelts, and by 1999, less than 100 foxes remained.

It is believed that many "tame" foxes originated from Belyaev's and derivative experiments. Today, fur farm breeders profit by selling foxes they can't skin.

Such experimental, fur-farm offspring are unable to survive in the wild. Despite being timid, they are not domestic dogs, and are illegal to own as pets without a special license.

You should never be asked to pay money for a rescue animal. True rescue organizations will place animals only after careful screening, and then for free, recognizing the expense to care for one.

Please do not support breeders of foxes or any other animal. These operations create excess animals who, if not adoptable, are destroyed in the name of profit. They force animals to breed and produce litters until they too are put down. There are many healthy rescued animals in need of a home and they will not cost you hundreds of dollars. Locate an animal shelter nearby.

An Alternative

Those seeking a fox-like pet should consider the clever Border Collie. Their appearance is very similar, with a loving temperament compatible with domestic life.

Click to Search for Border Collie Rescue Programs