Photos of a pair of unusual animals roaming Barry were posted on Facebook today, leaving some confused about what they were and where they had come from.

The two creatures are not dogs or raccoons as some speculated: they are silver foxes that Llandinam Road resident Lee Saif keeps as pets.

Lee has had Aurora and Zazu since they were six and a half weeks old, and now four years on, also cares for their three cubs.

"They aren't dangerous, they won't bite or anything. They know where home is and always return," said Lee.

"I've got that bond and trust with them now.

"Some people might say 'oh they're just animals' but they're not, they are so much more," said Lee.

"They're my family, you know?"

Lee says his Siberian silver foxes help him manage his schizophrenia by giving him a routine and distracting him from what he might be experiencing mentally.

Friends and neighbours alerted Lee that his foxes had escaped, and were messaging him about sightings.

Aurora, a female, has since returned home but male Zazu is still out.

Lee says he will come back eventually, describing Zazu as playful and friendly, while Aurora has a more cautious personality.

"The females only mate with one male, but the males mate with as many females as they like," said Lee.

"This isn't the first time they've got out. They got out a couple of years ago when the gate wasn't locked properly, but this time they've actually burrowed one metre down and three metres across.

"So, they came up right on the outside of the fence, they knew what they were doing.

"December and January time is mating season for them, and their bodies just take over," he said.

Aurora and Zazu are not the first unusual pets that animal-lover Lee has had: as a teenager he kept various reptiles, and even owned a Harris hawk at one point.

Lee says he researched the animals, which are melanistic forms of red foxes, giving them their distinctive fur colour, thoroughly before buying them to make sure he was allowed to keep them as pets.

He built a spacious enclosure for them in his back garden, comprised of an indoor and outdoor area.