An escaped fox, whose owners thought it was a dog, was recently caught and sent to a zoo after terrorising a Lima neighbourhood, according to an AFP report. The medium-sized, eight-month old Andean fox named Run Run wreaked havoc in the neighbourhood, eating ducks, chickens and guinea pigs much to the chagrin of its owners’ neighbours. The fox’s former owners paid nearly $15 to buy what they thought was a Siberian Husky for their daughter at an illegal animal market where they were conned by animal traffickers.
It became clear there was a case of mistaken identity when Run Run began to chase guinea pigs, chickens and ducks to kill or eat them, provoking the anger of neighbours.
“About a month ago, a woman from around here said that it ate three of her guinea pigs. And then two or three days ago, a local grandmother came and said that it killed guinea pigs,” owner Maribel Sotelo told Reuters news agency.
Run Run turned out to be an Andean fox, which has thin legs, a bushy tail, a pointed head and prominent ears, but it is more closely related to wolves and jackals than foxes.
The National Forest and Wildlife Service in Peru says wild animals are often bought by traffickers from Amazonian areas and are illegally sold in Lima.
Picture Credit : Google
