MADISON, Wis. -- For some high-rise workers in downtown Madison on Monday, the sight of a fox scouring across the half-frozen Lake Monona was heart-wrenching situation to watch.

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Using binoculars high up in the state Department of Administration building on Wilson Street, some onlookers could see the red fox stranded on the melting lake desperately searching for a way back to land.

The fox was trapped on the slushy water, trying to traverse the fingers of ice about 200 yards from the Monona Terrance Convention Center. As of late Monday, the fate of the fox was unknown.

According to a DOA worker, the fox originally ventured out onto the lake to catch or chase some birds, but once out there, it became stuck. Late Monday morning, the fox was running about, hopping ice floes, trying to find a way back to shore.

At times, the fox was headed in the right direction, but then suddenly it would turn itself farther away and closer to open water. Sometimes, the fox would fall in to the lake, but manage to jump back out.

Late Monday afternoon, the fox was still on the ice, but stationary and curled up.

State Department of Natural Resources officials said that trying to rescue it would be far too risky.

Gregg Matthews, of the south central DNR, said the sitution would be problematic for a rescue.

"It's not safe," said Greg Matthews of the south-central DNR. "We wouldn't want to take a boat out there. We definitely wouldn't want someone to walk out there. It's very cold. If we fell in the water, we could have hypothermia. You just have to weigh that. And we're betting that animal is going to sooner or later, make up its mind, jump in the water and swim to shore."

DNR wildlife officials said they believe the fox is waiting until night falls to swim back to shore.

Matthews said that fox can swim just fine and has fur to protect them from hypothermia. If the fox doesn't swim back to shore, he said that it may simply die from the weather, which he said is perfectly natural.

DNR officials said that the Dane County Sheriff's Department had taken an airboat out four times Monday to spot the animal. City-county Animal Services has also been notified and was getting calls from concerned people. So far, though, no rescue is planned, WISC-TV reported.

Wildlife officials said if the airboat gets too close to the fox, it could get scared, dive into the water and freeze to death.

Officials said that the calls for a rescue aren't unusual this time of year although they usually involve deer. Matthews said the DNR is bracing for a lot of phone calls from people seeking baby animal rescues, especially deer. He said that people wrongly believe fawns have been abandoned by their mother when in fact they have not.

In almost all cases, the DNR will simply leave animals alone and let nature take its course.