This was the incredible moment when a naughty bald eagle stole a red fox’s food from it dramatically. The unhappy red fox was eating when it happened.
The action was captured on camera in Washington’s San Juan Islands, and it depicts a conflict between a fox and an eagle over the ownership of a rabbit.
Wildlife photographer Kevin Ebi, who spoke with Bored Panda about eagles, said these birds “really don’t like to waste a lot of work in collecting their meal; therefore, they look for easy possibilities.”
“I was able to catch these wild creatures in the middle of a particularly dramatic act of stealing from one another a few days ago”
I witnessed a young red fox having a rabbit stolen from it by a bald eagle. Even more astonishing is that this fight took place more than 6 meters (20 feet) in the air at several points.
Kevin was searching the islands for young foxes when he witnessed the event taking place right in front of his very eyes while he was there.
“A red fox had just captured a rabbit and was seen walking across the field with it. I moved my camera around with it to get a good shot of the action.”
Then I turned around and heard the call of a bald eagle behind me. I turned back and saw it coming up behind me quickly. I was aware that it was after the rabbit.”
“I fixed my attention carefully on the fox and braced myself for a fraction of a second of the action,” I said.
“I was taken aback since the situation turned out to be considerably more intense than I had anticipated. I believed the fox would give up the rabbit, making dinner for the eagle much simpler.
“Instead, the fox, whose jaws were still gripped on the bunny, was snagged by the bald eagle accidentally,” the narrator says. The young fox and rabbit were carried into the sky by the eagle, which triggered an even more intense conflict.
The aerial conflict lasted for only 8 seconds in all, but the fox soon gave up the fight after realizing that it was hopeless. The eagle then brought the fox down from a height of approximately 20 feet after throwing it from a great height.
It quickly forgot about what had happened and played with the other kits. After the incident, I took a few shots to document its condition and couldn’t locate a single scratch on it.
“I believe the eagle believed that because the fox was so young, it was extremely likely that the fox would have been frightened by the eagle, and as a result, the fox would have given up the rabbit,”
“It was an extremely unusual experience. I’ve witnessed bald eagles steal food from other eagles, as well as crows, great blue herons, and even other bald eagles.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before: a theft committed by an eagle, a fox, and a rabbit all working together. But I’ve been working on wildlife photography for close to twenty years, and I firmly believe that each and every animal has a tale to tell.
