EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT POST-WEANING HANDLING PROCEDURES ON THE LATER BEHAVIOR OF SILVER FOXES

Male and female cubs from 52 litters of primiparous silver-fox vixens were in pairs randomly assigned to three groups at the age of 8 weeks. Seventeen pairs were exposed to forced handling and 18 pairs were exp osed to gentle and unforced handling twice daily for 3 continous weeks post-weaning. Seventeen pairs of fox cubs served as control animals a nd were not handled. Behavioural tests performed at the cubs' age of 1 8, 24, 30 and 32 weeks showed that handling of foxes either forcibly o r gently affected the foxes' fear responses towards humans compared wi th no handling. Handled animals showed less fear responses and more ex ploration compared with control animals at most ages of testing (0.05 < P < 0.001, chi2) The gently handled group showed a marked reduction of fear responses towards people both known and unknown to them and a less evident reduction of fear responses when exposed to novel stimuli . Foxes forcibly handled showed some reduction of fear responses towar ds people known and unknown to them and they showed more exploration w hen exposed to novel stimuli compared with both gently handled animals and control animals at most ages of testing. It was concluded that ge ntle handling of fox cubs was a means to reduce later fear responses t owards humans and that forced handling was a means to reduce the gener al fearfulness of the foxes. Positive human-fox relationships may be a chieved by gentle, unforced handling and forced handling may produce l ess emotional foxes, but further research is needed to conclude if one of the handling procedures is more efficient than the other in making the foxes better adapted to the frequent exposures to humans and the different management routines in the farm environment.