Bat-eared foxes are small African canids with specialised dietary and social needs that are frequently kept illegally as pets with poor welfare outcomes.
Bat-eared fox welfare in captivity illustrates the general problem of keeping highly specialised wild animals as pets. Their dietary specialisation on termites cannot be met with substitute insectivore diets — nutritional deficiency causes dental problems, immune failure, and metabolic disease. Their social bond with a mate or family group is disrupted by isolation. Their thermoregulation using their large ear pinnae depends on behaving naturally in appropriate climatic conditions — disrupted thermoregulation causes physiological stress. The cumulative welfare harm of keeping bat-eared foxes as pets is severe, yet the exotic pet trade continues to capture wild animals and supply them to markets where purchasers are unaware of these welfare implications. The welfare case for strict prohibition of bat-eared fox keeping as pets is strong.