The pastel fox is not a distinct biological species and does not even occur in the wild. Rather, it is a color variant of the red fox bred specifically for the cruel fur industry, created by crossing platinum and white-faced foxes.

Pastel foxes are still bred and actually offered as pets on the internet. Which is the most likely reason why, male fox Frodo, who came to TIERART in the summer of 2016, was probably simply abandoned. While roaming through gardens in a village, he caused confusion. Neither the Public Order Office nor the local hunter felt responsible for the "dog-fox-like" animal. Several animal welfare organizations and half the neighborhood tried for days to catch Frodo. With a live trap and lots of good food, they finally succeeded. The starved little guy was in a bad condition and was first of all fed up and given veterinary care.

At the time of Frodo's arrival, a female pastel fox named Zoé was already living at TIERART and the male was socialized with her. The two were inseparable from the first moment and lived together until Zoé died in May 2022.  

You can read the extraordinary love story here.

A few weeks after Zoé's death, silver fox Mika moved in with Frodo. The young vixen is very self-confident and Frodo needed some time to get used to her. 

But friendship can grow, as we know, and so we are confident that the two will become a good team in the future.

In the spring of 2023, several tumors were found in Frodo's lungs during a routine examination, which was a shock for our team and caused us great concern. However, his blood and urine values as well as his general condition were fine at that time, he showed no pain, ate well and played exuberantly with friend Mika.

We decided to make Frodo's remaining time at TIERART as pleasant as possible and to continue to observe him closely.

When his condition worsened a few weeks later, we knew it was time to let him go to spare him any pain. It was with a heavy heart that we had to say goodbye to Frodo on July 11, 2023.

Frodo was an integral part of our ward for seven years and very special to all who knew him. The love story of Frodo and Zoé was unique and enchanted not only our team and our visitors, but people far beyond our borders. Now the two are reunited.