- The Richmond Wildlife Center released a video of staff feeding a baby fox while wearing a fox mask to prevent the animal from marking the human
- The center used this video as a way to raise awareness about the danger of rabies
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A wildlife center in Virginia has tried to replicate the mother’s experience of a rescued baby red fox by having their staff wear fox masks while they eat.
The Richmond Wildlife Center posted the adorable video of the center’s founder, Melissa Stanley, feeding milk to the baby fox while wearing a soft fox mask.
It is not only a repetition of the mother’s experience between a mother fox and her kit, which is the term used for young foxes, but it is also to prevent imprinting – the way animals form a strong bond after birth with their caregiver .
The cute clip showed the little animal feeding on a bottle held by the fox employee as it wrapped around its own miniature stuffed fox toy.
“It is important to ensure that the orphans raised in captivity are not imprinted on or habituated to humans,” the caption of the Facebook post read.
The Richmond Wildlife Center in Virginia posted a video on Facebook of the center’s founder, Melissa Stanley, feeding the baby fox milk while wearing the fox mask
The center said they do this to prevent imprinting – or the way animals form a strong bond after birth with their caregiver
‘To prevent that, we minimize human sounds, create visual barriers, reduce handling, reduce multiple transfers between different facilities and wear masks for the species.’
The center said they have found several abandoned kits the same age as their recently rescued ones.
The rescued set, the star of the video, weighs only 80 grams. The newborn was discovered by the Richmond SPCA and given to the wildlife center on February 29.
At first it was thought to be a kitten, but upon further inspection it was discovered that it was actually a newborn baby fox, its eyes unopened and no teeth.
The center released their video as a way to raise awareness about the danger of rabies.
The people who originally found the fox kit were not wearing gloves when they retrieved the animal, which is dangerous for both the animal and the handler.
The center said proper protective equipment must be in place when coming into physical contact with affected animals, domesticated or not, to prevent the need to be killed and sent for rabies testing.
The center released their video as a way to raise awareness about the danger of rabies
The center also informed its audience that rabies is not only present in animals that act erratically. In fact, the center has reported two cases of rabies in domestic cats in the past five years, but none in foxes.
“While the risk of rabies transmission from this newborn fox kit is minimal given statistics on foxes in the city of Richmond, it has no teeth and was dehydrated with reduced saliva in its mouth, the risk is not zero,” the center said in a Facebook post on Jan. March.
The center also said it will try to locate the kit’s mother.
The cute video has received almost 1000 views, with users applauding the center for its diligent work in caring for the fox kit.
One person wrote: ‘So cute! Thank you for your great work!’
Another added: ‘Looks successful! keep up the fantastic work.’
Others donated to the wildlife center’s collection. They wrote: ‘Donated! thank you for all you do!’
It is not unusual to wear masks while caring for newborn animals.
In 2022, a zoo in China had its workers dressed in panda suits covered with bear feces and urine in an attempt to erase the panda’s memory of human contact.