Wildlife Center Staff Dresses in Giant Fox Costume to Nurse Orphaned Cub

The Richmond Wildlife Center in Virginia has been going to great lengths to care for an orphaned red fox cub, in hopes that the animal can one day be released back to the wild. Staffers take turns feeding the baby every two to four hours, all while dressed in a lifelike fox mask.

According to the New York Post, the baby fox was found in an alley in Richmond late last month by a man walking his dog. Initially, the man brought the fox to the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, thinking it was a kitten, before it eventually was identified and transferred to the wildlife center. When the cub (also known as a kit) arrived, she was less than 24 hours old with her umbilical stump still attached.

Staff attempted to locate the orphan’s mother but found the den site empty, and later learned that the foxes had been trapped and removed. Richmond Wildlife Center executive director Melissa Stanley said she thinks the fox cub either fell out of the trap or off the back of the trapper’s truck.

In a video posted to Facebook on March 12 that shows a costumed staffer feeding the fox cub, the wildlife center offered an update that the infant 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,” the video’s caption explained. “To prevent that, we minimize human sounds, create visual barriers, reduce handling, reduce multiple transfers amongst different facilities, and wear masks for the species.”

In a previous post, the center solicited a call for the donation of a stuffed adult fox and cub so that the baby could pretend to be nursing and cuddling in her enclosure with her surrogate family. “In addition, we have a fox head mask on our wishlist that we can wear so she doesn’t see a human face when feeding,” the organization explained.

The wildlife center said that it was able to locate three fox cub of the same age and weight as the one it’s currently caring for at the Animal Education and Rescue Organization in northern Virginia. The cub will likely be transferred to that facility, as it’s in her best interest to put her with other foxes her own age.

“The goal is to release animals back into the wild, not only to give them a greater chance of survival, but to recognize their own species and to reproduce to carry on their wildlife population,” Stanley said.