By Ignacio Mardones
July 25, 2024

“I saw the fox’s back shimmering from the ice,” said Jäger Franz Stehle. He says it is a warning.

Jäger Franz Stehle lives in Germany, in an area near the Danube river. Due to the low temperatures of the 2017 winter, this stream’s water froze over in some areas. After seeing that a fox had been trapped in the ice, he took his chainsaw and, with the help of his son, chiseled away at the blocks surrounding the animal’s carcass.

The photographs look like still shots from a movie because of how astonishing and peculiar they are. The truth is that this is a very strange case that has been widely shared, generating interest in thousands of people:

Bild

The animal had been completely petrified, like a statue:

This is what the 61-year-old man told the German newspaper, Bild:

DPA

“I saw the fox’s back shimmering from the ice.”

“I took him out with a chainsaw at the beginning of January.”

Amid the controversy this news generated, some social media users have voiced their suspicions that the story is fake. They’ve even compared the image to the work of artist Damien Hirst.

However, Stehle defends his story’s veracity, assuming that the fox accidentally slipped on a fragile layer of ice.

AFP

“I wanted to put it on the bank, as a memorial, so that no one dares to go on the ice. People should have respect for nature.”

-He told Bild

The man also assures that, at first, the fox wasn’t completely frozen since his legs were not encased in ice. Together with his son, they put him in a bathtub with water.

DPA

We also believe that the image is a warning for people to take the necessary precautions to avoid ending up like this fox.

AP

We just hope that this little fox didn’t suffer during his last moments.

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