Family Learns Their Dog Is Actually A Fox After Pet Begins Hurting Farm Animals

A family has discovered that their beloved dog is actually a fox after the pet started attacking farm animals.

Maribel Sotelo and her family in Lima, Peru, were excited to become pet parents when they got a cute puppy from a small shop. They even named the little one Run Run, and the family had fun watching it grow up. It was cute and energetic, just like any other pup. It also got along with people and animals alike, reported Reuters.

However, as the pet got older, it began behaving differently, which then made the family wonder if it was really a dog. The pet started to chase chickens and ducks in the neighborhood before proceeding to kill and then eat them, causing other people to erupt in anger. Its bushy tail, pointy ears and thinner face also became more prominent as it aged.

It was soon confirmed that the animal was not a dog as they'd once thought it to be. Instead, it was an Andean fox.

"We had thought he was a purebred puppy," Sotelo said as per the outlet.

Apparently, it was her teenage son who purchased the animal from the store for around $13 about six months ago.

"A lady told us that it had eaten three large guinea pigs," she recalled, adding that she had to pay the owners for the animals her pet killed.

Before the family could even decide what to do with the fox, it literally ran away from home. Now, the ecological police and officials from the Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (SERFOR) — Peru's national forestry and wildlife authority — are looking for the fox so they could take it to a special center or zoo.

This is not the first time something of this sort happened, according to Walter Silva, a veterinarian and wildlife specialist who works with SERFOR.

"Trafficking in wildlife brings these consequences," he told Reuters.

Several animals are reportedly brought by traffickers from Amazonian areas such as Loreto, Ucayali and Madre de Dios, to be illegally traded in Lima.

"Many specimens are captured from hatchlings. For this, they kill the parents and these juveniles are illegally traded in informal markets," he said further. "In this case, a fox bought as a domestic dog."

Silva revealed that this year alone, they have carried out 128 interventions in which wild animals were confiscated. He also noted that in Peru, the sale or purchase of wild animals is illegal and is punishable by up to five years in prison.