Wildlife center staff dress as oddly horrible fox

Domesticated animals rarely do well when released into the wild, as they imprint on humans. The solution – become a furry. Virginia’s Richmond Wildlife Center shared a video of its staff embracing their inner furry and wearing an utterly horrifying fox mask as they fed a cute kit (a baby fox). The hope is that the mask will prevent the fox imprinting on its human caretakers, either by convincing it that they’re abnormally large foxes, or just through sheer terror. ‘It’s important to make sure that the orphans that are raised in captivity do not become imprinted upon or habituated to humans,’ the center said, sharing a video of the adorable nightmare in a Facebook post. ‘To prevent that, we minimize human sounds, create visual barriers, reduce handling, reduce multiple transfers amongst different facilities, and wear masks for the species.’ Why do we get the feeling this hideous fox costume is destined to become ‘exhibit A’ the next time they try to bring back ‘RainFurrest’?