Fox Mourns The Loss Of His Friend Killed By A Passing Car.February 3, 2015 - Island Beach State Park

Fox Mourns The Loss Of His Friend Killed By A Passing Car.

February 3, 2015 - Island Beach State Park, NJ.

I was photographing a fox emerging from a grassy knoll on the side ofShore Road in Island Beach State Park, NJ  on February 3, 2015. After the fox I was photographing cleared through the brush he noticed another fox just down the road heading towards him. They both saw each other and began chasing each other up and down, and back and forth across the road. They were jumping on each other playing tag and rolling around. And just like that an SUV came barreling down the road, the driver slammed on their brakes and swerved but it was too late. The white SUV struck one of the foxes with the front passenger side tire of the car. I stared not knowing what to do. The fox who was hit was spasming and rolling around on the ground. The spooked fox who nearly avoiding being hit saw his friend on the ground. He thought he was fine, just playing like they were moments before; so he ran over and pounced. They were both rolling around until the fox who was hit stopped moving. This is when I decided to walk over and see what was going on. As I got closer I saw the both foxes covered in blood. The fox who avoided the accident kept circling around his playmate just staring confused; he looked so sad. He continued nuzzling his friend to see if he was ok and picked him up by his neck (like a mother does to her young) and set him down. Nothing. After a few try’s he noticed the blood on his coat and wasn’t too happy. He ran into the brush and started rolling around on the ground and brushing against a tree trying to get his friends blood off his fur. He came back out after a couple moments and started to circle again. He tried pawing and nosing a couple more times, still nothing. He walked off the road slowly, he stopped to look back for a moment then ran off into the the grassy knoll. The driver never stopped.

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