A man in Ontario, Canada, became an unexpected hero after rescuing three stranded deer trapped on a frozen lake during his lunch-break skate on December 3.
RP, who filmed the moment, said he quickly realized it was a race against time. With the ice too thin for vehicles, he grabbed a rope, skated back out, and carefully pulled each deer to safety.
He approached gingerly – but had gravity on his side.
“If they’re upright, they can kick you,” Peterson told the Guardian. “[But] once they’re down on the ice, their legs are flat out and they can’t lift them.”
The deer seemed exhausted, and Peterson realized they were unlikely to make it back to shore – and that, stranded on the ice, they would have made easy prey for wolves.
“I went back to work and grabbed some rope,” he told Storyful. “The ice was still too thin for any kind of vehicle, so skating was the only option.”
He headed back onto the ice, where he carefully looped the rope around one of the struggling deer. After pulling it to safety, he returned for the other two. When the three of them were reunited, they steadied themselves and continued on their way.
