i have no "wild animal" as a "pet" i have 2 domestic breed dogs 1 domestic breed cat and 4 domestic breed turkey hens. I think you mean "you" meaning the person who has this fennec fox. Last i read fennec foxes were an invasive species in many countries and considered part of pest control measures...a bit like feral domestic non native cats in Australia are...where they are busy culling 1 million feral cats as they are destroying the "native" and "real" wildlife species there.
"Pets" are animals that we "force" to confine in our homes and control every aspect of their lives. They are totally unnatural to the ecosystem now. Their lives are totally forced on them by us humans in every aspect...the most obvious is their lack of freedom to go where they want when they want, breed and live in the wild with their own species.
That fox...like any "real" natural wild animal is now a "pet" just like our domesticated species "pets" became once we enslaved and bred them for our entertainment. It would probably be dead in the wild, I took little interest in knowing why the person ended up with this animal but many people "save" wild animals and i vaguely recall that was the situation. So she has already saved its life. In the wild...only 50 percent of a wild pride of lions make it to aulthood...1 in 8 of a family of wolves...not that today those exist without human protection in reserves. So any "pet" has a much greater chance of living longer than it would have done in the wild. This fox included.
That the ideal of a vegan world is "no pets" is correct. "owning" an animal is not vegan...it is forcing everything about its life on that animal. Food is the least of the problem of its lost "rights" in fact since "freedom" is the greatest quality of life of any living creature..we humans have it..we do where we want when we want...no "pet" of ours has that freedom. They get fed what we humans give them.
It is a fantasy to think it is "unnatural" to feed an animal kept as a prisoner by a human unnaturally in the first place and then think we the human should go out and hunt mice or whatever and kill them to feed it...what our "pets" need is healthy nutrition that we buy them that bears no resemblance to any animals...kibble is kibble. Tins of chopped up cows mixed with plants are a human nutrition creation. The "pet" has no idea what it is eating and i suggest cares even less...animals eat...instinctively...no animal lets itself starve.
I agree there is a strong argument for saying...Vegans should stop owning pets...let the rescues be destroyed 100 percent..at present 50 percent of abandoned "pets" are destroyed in any country. The benefit would be the deterrent to "own" pets and abandon them so liberally thinking in fantasies that they will be rehomed. Only half are. If people realised they should "not" own pets and not therefore abandon them the "pet" population would drop like a stone far faster than is currently the case. "Pet ownership" of dogs and cats is on the decline in many countries. Which is a good think imho.
People do not have the time or wish to be burdoned with the 10 percent of walkies time etc that "pets" get accorded. Humans activities are a totally alien world to any species but humans...which is natural...tv watching...tv...crossing roads...our social activities are not ones that our "pets" share other than our handbags on leads and collars walking at our pace mostly except an hour or so a day if a dog.
This fennec fox story has turned into a storm in a teacup. It is 1 animal...that would be dead if not rescued by this person...many fennec foxes are being "sold" as pets I noticed in various places however. So obviously there is a "market" for this kind of "pet" an it is not protected by laws that "some" wild species of animals are against being "owned" by humans.
Once a human "owns" as is possible such an animal...they are perfectly entitled to feed it whatever they wish...they may kill and eat it legally if they so wish. That this person is a Vegan and naturally chooses to not kill other animals simply to feed 1 animal is an ethical reasonable decision. This fox's life is not worth a human killing many other animals for especially when perfectly adequate vegan nutrition exists for it. As the vets have confirmed. Therefore it is only perceptions of fantasies that other people whose business this fox is not who try and see anything wrong with how this fox is either fed or owned. She legally "owns" this animal as many people "own" animals legally and can and does legally feed it what she chooses.
Since this fox is still alive and doing well on the vegan nutrition and the issues with its health were other than nutrition related...which is perfectly normal ... humans...animals have health issues not related to nutrition...I do not see why other people are getting so annoyed about the matter...I suggest the whole issue of "all pets" being "owned" by humans is a far more important issue that people should be encouraging people to stop doing. I certainly say to people who coo over my dogs when out ....do "not" get a dog no...you have a family and responsibilities...a dog is a huge burden for the small time that you would have to play around with it. This summer...out at beaches etc...i saw so many dogs just having to be "forced" to sit bored on short leads under tables in pubs etc whilst the family chatted played did things that humans enjoy...it really is a "dog's life" for a "pet" dog. They are just toys in reality that understand nothing and take no interest in the human activites that humans naturally take an interest in. They are not our species. Each species naturally should live free with its own species, which "pets" do not.
What i regret for this fennec fox and all like him is that he lives alone without company of his own species to go free in nature where and when he likes. I doubt very much the animal gives a toss what he is eating and eats it with relish
edit ps...I meet often people walking hunting breed dogs on leads. A whippet the last one...some of them are "never" let off leads...the last one i met, a puppy on a huge beach...the family with the puppy said that this puppy would not be let off lead for at least 6 months ! a Pharoah hound before that had never been off lead for 2 years of its life to date....huskeys also dogs always on leads. Walking at the pace of a human ! it really saddens me to see such animals never "free" even to run 1 hour a day...that loss of freedom is a "force" that we humans exercise on hundreds of millions of "pet dogs" that live sad lives indeed imho. What they eat...is the least of the problem. These breeds of dogs that never get what I consider even "minimal" freedom...would "love" to exercise their instincts to "run free like the wind" but they never do...their entire lives are imho a tragedy. Forced to live with collars and chains and in human houses like slaves that they are. prisoners. Let us not think that "food" is what the problem is...it is their entire life situation of being "forced" to comply with a human life environment.
