To most Australians, foxes are that sly red bastard
that ate your grandad's chooks.
But to some people, they are just another pet
and on par with cats and dogs.
They're just the most happy, joyous, cheeky creatures.
But government agencies and environmentalists
are unmoved in their stance that foxes are more foe than friend.
Obviously, a fox is a predator, not a pet.
In 2014 the NSW government declared war on foxes
via a pest control order.
The aim was to eradicate foxes,
save wildlife and phase out pet fox kept ownership.
Currently there are 70 licensed fox owners in NSW
but when those foxes die, no new licences will be handed out,
effectively putting an end to pet foxes in Australia.
We try to not let them lick our faces, and be like no face licking,
but it's a bit tempting sometimes to let them lick you.
Sometimes it's a bit gross because they are like dogs
and they lick gross things.
This is Immy and Sammy sniffing my shoe.
Little trouble makers, just 2 of the 12 foxes that we have here.
Sydney Fox Rescue was founded by myself in 2012.
We're a rescue program, a sanctuary, a shelter
and also do a lot of advocacy work.
Advocating on behalf of I guess
what a lot of people would consider pest species.
Had these foxes not come into our care they might have been euthanised,
alternatively they might have gone to live in the wild,
if we can take them out of the wild and keep them in captivity
it's a kind of win-win situation for foxes and for natives.
But the NSW local land services need a little more convincing
as to the benefits of fox ownership.
- G'day, Michael, how are you? - Good, thanks for coming out.
Foxes are predatory animals,
it is cruel to have a fox in a cage locked up 24/7
because naturally they do not behave like that.
My name's Lee Parker, I'm a senior biosecurity officer.
I assist landholders in fox control
and other invasive species control methods.
Foxes are highly destructive.
I get numerous phone calls every single day
in regards to fox attacks on livestock.
In Australia it's estimated that foxes cause
around 230 million dollars worth of damage each year
and around 40 million dollars of damage is inflicted on livestock.
We'd go 6 months without having any lambs born,
you'd see them as day-olds and the next day they'd be gone.
Some days you'd see just a placenta in the paddock
and you wouldn't find a lamb anywhere,
without that you wouldn't know the lamb had been born.
And whilst its easy to measure the effect of foxes on agriculture,
it's often our native flora and fauna that suffers silently.
Obviously we've got a lot of ground dwelling birds
that have been heavily affected by foxes.
We've got the brush-tailed rock wallaby,
that's a threatened species from foxes.
What's the most harmful to the environment in Australia
is the agricultural industry.
It's also the agricultural industry that wants to kill foxes the most.
It's time that we took some responsibility for this animal that we brought here.
And they do have complex and often negative interactions
with the Australian environment.
Nobody is trying to argue against that.
The pest control order for us as fox owners is incredibly restrictive.
It means that we can no longer take foxes off our property,
even the act of taking a fox to the vets can be an $8000 fine.
Keeping a fox without a permit, $8000 fine.
So just the small acts of compassion
and attempts to rescue and help animals have now been criminalised.
You want a bit of nectarine, hey, little monkey?
Here you go, here it is.
It's good for their teeth, as much raw as we can feed them.
Would they eat that in the wild?
Oh, yeah, absolutely, they eat a very varied diet,
everything from insects, rodents, rabbits,
obviously fresh fruit and veg, lots of carrion.
They are big scavengers.
It's this natural scavenging instinct
that makes foxes the perfect pest and enemy number one.
Foxes are opportunistic feeders.
If there are no animals around they will eat berries and weeds
such as blackberry, African olive seeds,
spreading these weeds into clean bushland
by digesting them and passing them through their systems,
so obviously just not animal attacks and native fauna attacks,
it's also protecting our bushland,
Awesome, yep...
He gets a big mouthful in that one, doesn't he?
So before we got here 5 years ago there was no fox control at all.
Since coming in and doing the baiting over the last year and a half
we've been seeing a lot more echidna, lace monitors.
We even had a set of swans.
Where blokes like Lee eradicate wild foxes,
Charlie argues that his pet foxes aren't the culprits
and therefore shouldn't be punished
Muvvy, I know you don't like the photographer...
I don't think that rescuing foxes in any way contributes
to the destruction of native animals and flora and fauna.
Anything we do in terms of rescuing foxes
is only gonna decrease wild fox numbers.
And in that way it's really positive.
Is this the only place where they go, or...
No, they can come out for walks,
they can come inside and things like that.
Under the new legislation they do have to spend more time
in their enclosures.
I used to take Winnie to the beach, I used to take him to the dog park.
I think that living in an enclosure is the least bad option for these guys right now.
I do think that the local land services wants to silence us.
What they're really worried about at the end of the day though
is that people will see these animals
and see how beautiful and friendly and affectionate they are.
It's not good enough to say that all these animals should be killed,
just by virtue of being alive.
They're here now, they're not going away
and we need to find compassionate and humane ways to live with them.
Where fox owners like Charlie are responsible,
it's the devastating effects caused by irresponsible fox owners
that worry land services, farmers, and environmentalists alike.
They're just trying to convince the community
that foxes are able to be kept as pets.
Foxes are a predator.
It's cruel to keep a fox in captivity.
It's no good locking this animal up
and trying to turn it into a dog or a cat.
The foxes in captivity right now will be the last.
There was no possibility that fox permits will be extended in NSW.