Complex housing environment for farmed blue foxes (Vulpes lagopus): use of various resources

Abstract

The present study was designed to measure the use of various, simultaneously available resources in a complex housing environment in juvenile blue foxes. Twelve blue fox sibling (male–female) pairs were housed in two-section experimental cages from the age of 8 weeks until the age of 7 months (from June to December). Each experimental cage was furnished with two platforms, a nest box, a sand box and a wooden block. This housing set-up provided the foxes with social contact, and an opportunity for oral manipulation, scratching and nesting, as well as the choice of staying on a solid floor material or on an elevated location. The foxes’ behaviour was recorded at three time points during autumn (September, November and December). The foxes used all available resources. The most utilised resource was the nest box, possibly because it could be utilised in several ways (as a shelter, an elevated location, an object for scratching and for oral manipulation). The foxes also stayed more in the cage section containing the nest box than in the cage section containing a sand box. The foxes rested much on the cage floor, but they also used the interior of the nest box and elevated locations for resting. Social contact often occurred during resting. Thus, the nest box and elevated location, in conjunction with social contact seem to be valuable while resting. While active, the foxes utilised the cage floor and roof of the nest box instead of the platforms. Scratching, digging and an interaction with the wooden block were seldom observed. Activity occurred mainly on the ‘empty’ cage area. In conclusion, all studied resources provided blue foxes with a distinct value, as they all were used in the complex housing environment. The nest box is used most and for most variable behaviours.

Kinematics and Subpopulations’ Structure Definition of Blue Fox (Alopex lagopus) Sperm Motility using the ISAS®V1 CASA System

“…) and breeding ways (Pyykonen et al. ; Koistinen and Korhonen ), but many of the farms continue to use only the traditional method.…”

“…Anyway, some attempts were made to introduce assisted reproduction in fox (Farstad et al 1993a), in both silver (Vulpes vulpes) and blue (Alopex lagopus) species (Farstad et al 1993b andBoue et al 2000, respectively). There are some works about different ways of blue vixen's insemination (Farstad 1998;Miller et al 2005;Boue et al 2000;Pyykonen et al 2009) and breeding ways (Pyykonen et al 2008;Koistinen and Korhonen 2013), but many of the farms continue to use only the traditional method.…”

Effects of Feeding Intensity and Ca:P Ratio on Foot Welfare in Blue Foxes (<i>Vulpes lagopus</i>)

“…Furthermore, a bone (30 cm long × 7 cm diameter) as chewing and activity object was placed into cage floor. This furnishment is obligatory for farmed foxes [15].…”

A Study on Multi-Enriched Housing Environment in Blue Foxes

“…Typically, wooden blocks or bones are used for the latter purpose. The effects of the platforms [4] and chewing objects [5], as well as various other EE objects and materials, i.e. sand floor [6], scratching plate [7], and straw [8] on the welfare have been studied in various experimental set-ups.…”

“…Usually the studies have focused on situations where there have been only one or a few EEs in a standard fox cage [5] [8]. If the foxes had had available several EEs simultaneously, the EEs would have been provided in large cage systems [4] [9]. However, several studies have shown recently that providing farmed mink with environmental complexity, i.e.…”