Here's Why US Wildlife Centre Staff Wears Fox Mask While Feeding Newborn

Employees at Virginia's Richmond Wildlife Center have come up with a unique way to stop an abandoned newborn red fox from becoming too familiar with humans. In a bid to prevent the cub from "imprinting" on humans, the employees are feeding the red fox kit, wearing a fox mask.

The incident made headlines after the official Facebook page of Richmond Wildlife Center dropped a video, showing one of its employees feeding milk to a tiny kit. In the clip, the employee can be seen wearing a massive red fox head mask, on top of a coat.

To make sure of the hygiene factor for the newborn, the employee can be seen wearing a white rubber glove, while feeding milk using a syringe barrel connected to a dropper.

The clip was shared along with a detailed note, wherein the wildlife centre revealed that apart from wearing the red fox head mask, the employees also make sure to “minimize human sounds.”

All this is done to prevent the newborns from imprinting on humans. They also make sure to “create visual barriers and reduce multiple transfers amongst different facilities.

The note read, “Many thanks to everyone who has supported the Red Fox Kit. She is progressing well. It's important to make sure that the orphans that are raised in captivity do not become imprinted upon or habituated to humans. To prevent that, we minimize human sounds, create visual barriers, reduce handling, reduce multiple transfers amongst different facilities, and wear masks for the species.”

It added, “We were able to locate fox kits of the same age and weight as ours and are working to determine what is in the best interest of the foxes. If they should be transferred to us, or if we should transfer ours to them. Either way, it's in the best interest of this Fox to get it with other foxes her own age. We will keep you posted. In the interim, enjoy this video of Fox milk time. Please consider sponsoring an animal in our care today. Every dollar counts!”

Check out the clip here:

The clip concludes by showing that the little kit is given a red fox soft-toy to cuddle while sleeping.

As per a report by NBC News, the tiny kit weighs just 80 grams (2.8 oz).

It was discovered by Richmond SPCA and handed over to the centre on February 29.

The report added that initially, the rescuers thought it was a cat, but soon realised it was a neonatal fox kit, with its teeth yet to appear.