Everyone raised on the internet has spent many, many hours watching small animals be adorable.
Hot tip: if you’re still hooked on cat videos, . But what about IRL? What's the deal with keeping little farm animals in your backyard?
We’ve done a little resarch and here's what you can and what you can't do.
Mini goats
First you will need to contact your local Department of Primary Industries to find out if you are allowed to keep livestock. If you only want one or two goats and you have a decent-sized backyard, you should be okay.
But you can’t really just have one goat. Goats are herd animals and are only happy if they are with their #squad. They prefer hanging with other goats, but they will get friendly with other livestock or your dog.
Weird technicality: if your goat ever leaves your property you need to keep a note of it in a little passport that must travel with your goat at all times. No kidding.
Goat Yoga is a thing. There are more than 1,000 people on the waiting list for classes at No Regrets farm in Orgeon, USA. Source: Supplied
Mini pigs
Step one is to check with your local council to see if you can keep one in your backyard. It’s pretty restrictive, so for most people this will be the first and last step. SAD!
The pot-bellied pig and the Kune Kune are prohibited in Australia, which means there are no true miniature pigs available in this country.
Besides, so-called mini pigs or teacup pigs can grow to be 90kg. If you want to get an idea of how big a pig will grow to be, ask to see the parents.
This pig was purchased as a "mini pig". Source: Supplied
Foxes
NSW is the only state in Australia where foxes haven’t been declared a feral species.
Sydney Fox Rescue has an Adopt-a-Fox program - but don’t get too excited. There are 70 licensed fox owners in NSW, but when those foxes die, no new licenses will be handed out.
Foxes from the wild are wild. It takes generations of selective breeding to fully domesticate them. That said, author David Sedaris gets regular visits from a fox. He posts about it on Facebook. It’s very cute. And his books are great. You should follow him. 
Charlie from Sydney Fox Rescue. Source: SBS
Endangered native animals
Earlier this month Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews , “I can’t think of anything more patriotic than choosing to own an Australian animal.”
He plans to lobby state and territory governments to make it easier for people to keep native animals as pets. He went on to say, “Everything has got to be on the table in the fight against extinction.”
Basically, Andrews reckons keeping threatened native animals as pets makes more sense than keeping cats (which kill wildlife) and rabbits (which escape and become feral). However, protecting native species living in the wild means we need to continue to protect their natural habitat. If we start relying on people to raise endangered native animals in their homes, will we then stop caring about the environment?
A baby eastern barred bandi-cute. Source: Supplied
Unicorns
If you find one in the wild, it’s all yours. If you’re not keen on leaving your mum's basement, try .
Probably in Tasmania. Source: Supplied
Tune in to #TheFeedSBS at 7.30pm Monday - Friday on SBS VICELAND, stream , or follow us on , , or .
