Peruvian family believed they had bought a dog, when in reality it was a fox that ate the guinea pigs and chickens in the neighborhood

The adventure of Run Run, the fox that wreaked havoc in a Lima neighborhood after escaping from the house where it was bought as a puppy thinking it was a dog, ended after almost a week of persecution by the authorities and journalists for catching the elusive specimen and take it to an animal rescue center.

The story of this young fox, about 8 months old, had Peruvians in suspense, who sympathized with the animal on social networks due to the frustrated attempts to capture it, as if it were a character from a series of animated drawings.

The fox, which has been eating guinea pigs (guinea pigs) and chickens from neighbors for weeks, has become the most popular face of illegal animal trafficking in the country, where thousands of wild species are taken from their natural habitat to be commercialized in very poor conditions.

This is the case of Run Run, which was bought for 50 soles (about $ 12.50) by a family from the Sol Naciente settlement, from the populous district of Comas in Lima, to a street vendor in the center of the Peruvian capital that offered dog puppies near the Central Market.

The animal was acquired in February as if it were a Siberian husky puppy, but in May he escaped from the house terrified by unusual lightning strikes that occurred in the north of Lima, according to Maribel Sotelo, original owner of Run Run, told local media.

It was then that the family realized that what they had been breeding it was actually an Andean fox, who began to prowl the hill of the neighborhood and hunt the farmyard animals that the neighbors raised.

“I ate dog food, and when he was little he barked like a puppy. That’s why I didn’t realize it, ”said Sotelo, who has had to pay neighbors affected by hunger from the elusive Run Run.

Despite the warnings made by the family to the wildlife authorities, they did not launch an operation to rescue him until the case was presented in the national media.

After several days where the fox mocked the attempts to be caught with sleeping pills, the technicians of the National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor) of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation managed to seize the animal on Monday night after shooting a tranquilizer dart. .

It was later transferred to the Parque de las Leyendas zoo for the attention of specialists, where it is under observation and will remain in custody, since it cannot be immediately released into its natural habitat.

The capture of Run Run has created so much expectation that many families went to the zoo located in the San Miguel district of Lima on Tuesday to see the animal, although they were left with the desire, since for the moment it will not be exhibited to visitors.

More than 300 species are threatened by illegal wildlife trafficking in Peru, where each year more than 5,000 specimens are seized for illegal activities that endanger the biodiversity of the country, recognized for hosting more than 70% of the planet’s biological diversity. (I)