A mother-of-two has hand-reared a fox cub and lets it play with her young children – despite the animal having a tendency to nip strangers.
Natalie Reynolds, 35, keeps Jasper the fox in the garden of her Hertfordshire home alongside her three dogs, cat and horses.
She says the animal gets on well with her daughter, Marissa, five, and three-year-old son, Chace, and they even take him for walks.
Natalie Reynolds, 35,(pictured with her son, Chace, three) keeps Jasper the fox in the garden of her Hertfordshire home alongside her three dogs, cat and horses
She says the animal gets on well with Chace and her daughter, Marissa, five. They are pictured together in the family lounge
But despite Mrs Reynolds insisting the eight-month-old fox is domesticated, a charity said that keeping the wild animals as pets is wrong as they belong in the wild.
The stay-at-home mother admits getting ‘strange looks’ from dog walkers when she takes Jasper out near their affluent village, which is popular with fox hunters.
Mrs Reynolds said: ‘[Foxes] get such bad press but he’s around my children and he just plays with them. He’s got a different bond with me. He’s not so great with my partner.
‘He’s like a cross between a cat and a dog. He’s part of the pack. The dogs chase him around, he loves the cat but the cat isn’t too fond of him.
‘I always walk him on the lead – he’s so domesticated. A lot of people look down their noses at you. Some people are disgusted but most people are good about it.
‘I’ve been told they are very versatile and that he could be released back into the wild but their average lifespan in the wild is just 18 months – they either get shot, poisoned, snared or hunted.’
But despite Mrs Reynolds insisting the eight-month-old fox is domesticated, a charity said that keeping the wild animals as pets is wrong as they belong in the wild
The family adopted Jasper when he was two-days-old from a veterinary surgery in another village in Herts.
He was handed in after being abandoned by his mother and mistaken for a tiny puppy.
Mrs Reynolds said: ‘One of my friends called me, she’s a veterinary nurse and she gave me a call to say they had just had a fox cub handed in and that he would need hand-rearing because he needed bottle-feeding every couple of hours.
‘I was up every two hours in the night with him – it was like breastfeeding my children.
‘The first week or two it was through the night, I would have to get up and feed him until it progressed to getting him downstairs and he was in a crate downstairs like a puppy would be.
‘Around four months-old we build him an outdoor enclosure which suited him very much better because he was just going around the house causing a lot of mischief.
‘He’s got freedom as in he runs around free in the garden, he’s not caged.
‘He’s only in there for night-time and for his own safety so it’s not like I’m just keeping him captive in a cage.
‘He does have his sense of freedom and we do go on walks and things. People are always going to judge no matter what you do.’
The stay-at-home mother admits getting ‘strange looks’ from dog walkers when she takes Jasper out near their affluent village, which is popular with fox hunters
The family adopted Jasper when he was two-days-old from a veterinary surgery in another village in Herts
Jasper the Fox with Mishka the Husky in the garden of the Reynold’s home in Hertfordshire
Mrs Reynolds admits the fox(pictured on a trampoline) is ‘just not a household pet’ as he smells. So she built an enclosure for him in the back garden garage
Mrs Reynolds admits the fox is ‘just not a household pet’ as he smells.
So she built an enclosure for him in the back garden garage at their 1/3 acre property where neighbouring houses are valued at more than £1.5m on average.
The enclosure has wooden shelves and bedding for the fox to play with and he regularly plays with her young children on a trampoline in the garden during the day.
Mrs Reynolds said Jasper often scavenged for road kill on his walks in woodland.
Mrs Reynolds said Jasper often scavenged for road kill on his walks in woodland
She said locals who were fox-hunting supporters who saw them give her ‘strange looks’.
Jasper has nipped at strangers and Mrs Reynolds said she would never recommend anyone else keep such a wild pet.
‘We’re very fortunate that we have the stuff to keep him here but it’s not something I would advise in any way,’ she added.
‘I don’t want people to go out and think “this is great”. He’s not good in a domestic situation, he smells. They are just not household pets.’
Martin Brookes, of Vale Wildlife Hospital, said there was a growing trend of keeping wild foxes as pets.
Speaking of a pet fox that was handed into the charity hospital which was being ‘taught’ to be wild again, he said: ‘When he first came out here he was literally running up to the care assistants climbing your legs.
‘It’s not good for the fox, it’s no good for the species. Some foxes are being traded for £100s.’
Lydia Parry, veterinary nurse at Vale Wildlife Hospital, raised concerns over Jasper biting Natalie’s children.
She said: ‘Obviously the fact that they are wild animals would probably increase that risk.
Jasper has nipped at strangers and Mrs Reynolds said she would never recommend anyone else keep such a wild pet
Martin Brookes, of Vale Wildlife Hospital, said there was a growing trend of keeping wild foxes as pets. Pictured: Jasper with Chace
Mr Brookes said: ‘It’s not good for the fox, it’s no good for the species. Some foxes are being traded for £100s.’ Pictured: Jasper as a cub
‘It’s the unpredictability of the animals because they are wild animals and they will always have that instinct.’
The RSPCA said: ‘Legally, there is no restriction on keeping foxes as pets in England and Wales, but foxes have not been domesticated and a fox in captivity would have the same needs as in the wild.
‘If a fox is taken into captivity, then it will be protected under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
‘The RSPCA feels that because foxes are wild animals and do not fare well as domestic pets, they should not be kept as such.
The RSPCA said: ‘Legally, there is no restriction on keeping foxes as pets in England and Wales, but foxes have not been domesticated’
The RSPCA feels that because foxes are wild animals and do not fare well as domestic pets, they should not be kept as such
Even the most experienced fox experts have had difficulty in keeping adult foxes successfully in captivity as they have very specific needs, according to the RSPCA
She said locals who were fox-hunting supporters who saw them give her ‘strange looks’
‘Even the most experienced fox experts have had difficulty in keeping adult foxes successfully in captivity as they have very specific needs.
‘Rescued fox cubs can be reared and returned to the wild but they need to be reared in a way that doesn’t habituate them to people, otherwise they would not be able to fend for themselves or may run into trouble when released.’
In 2013, a fox ripped a baby boy’s finger off after getting into a family home in Bromley, Kent.
Denny Dolan, who was just five-weeks-old at the time, had to have his finger reattached in surgery and needed stitches to his cheek, as well as treatment for injuries to his face and head.
Jasper has nipped at strangers and Mrs Reynolds said she would never recommend anyone else keep such a wild pet
Jasper the fox and with the Reynolds family dogs and three-year-old Chace Reynolds
In 2013, a fox ripped a baby boy’s finger off after getting into a family home in Bromley, Kent