Virginia wildlife center staff pretend to be giant foxes when feeding cub

Richmond Wildlife Center’s executive director and founder, Melissa Stanley, wears a fox mask as she feeds an orphaned red fox kit, on 10 March. Photograph: AP

A Virginia wildlife center has figured out how to prevent abandoned newborn animals – specifically foxes – from imprinting on humans, doing so by wearing a giant fox mask while feeding the babies.

At a first glance, a video of the development looks like just another uncanny clip found on the internet. A person wearing a fox mask with beady eyes and a moveable mouth towers over a palm-sized, squirming creature, what looks like a newborn kitten, while feeding it with a teat-like tube.