01/15/2026
Today was a great day to be an arctic fox as it certainly felt like an arctic tundra today. It read 3 degrees at the barn, but don’t worry! All animals that needed to come inside were moved in, everyone who remained outdoors were given extra bedding, while some of our animals thought it was the best thing to sit right in the middle of the field and enjoy the wind.
One of the first questions we get when we have visitors over the winter is “shouldn’t those animals be inside?”
Many species are built to adapt and can experience cold temperatures in their native habitats. Australia gets COLD, the Sahara desert gets COLD at night, and our own native species are made for winter weather. Now that doesn’t mean we should never intervene or help an animal because they are supposed to be built for it. They should have a dry shelter available to them that they can go into to get out of the elements (wind, rain, snow), water available, and are getting the calories they need to survive. Other factors that could mean they need to be moved inside include being an older animal, sick, have a medical history, young, or have never been out in the cold.
The first few weeks of winter weather can be challenging and you’ll see more animals locked inside if they did not have time to adapt from hot weather to cold weather. As winter goes on, many animals have their winter coats all in and their bodies are used to colder weather, so they may get more time outdoors versus at the beginning of winter.
While there is always a bad apple out there, I can promise you facilities who spend thousands on vet care, feed costs, and enclosure costs are not going to leave their animals out in the cold to freeze. Good facilities will put their animals way before their own comfort even if that means the keepers are working in below zero temperatures.
