Photos from Patch by Bill Ryan
While more often than not it is advised that people contact their local wildlife rehabilitator if they find an injured wild animal, there are always exceptions to the rule.
One such case unfolded this past weekend, when a remarkable group of people, including two teens from Howell, New Jersey, noticed a fawn struggling to stay afloat in Barnegat Bay.
The fawn was initially mistaken for a floating log. Fortunately, it did not take long for the compassionate spectators to realize it was, in fact, an animal in distress that needed to be saved.
According to a post on the Toms River Patch, 18-year-old Kyle Mulholland and 17-year-old Sean Ryan used a wave runner to reach the young animal “that was so tired from swimming, that she didn’t have much time left.”
“It was clearly struggling,” John Spalthoff told the media outlet, explaining that he had also tried to pick the fawn up and bring it into his kayak, “but the squirming fawn went back into the water.
It was then that Mulholland reportedly jumped into the water to rescue the fawn, handing the cold and frightened animal to Ryan. The young men worked together to save the fawn’s life as Ryan wrapped the animal in a towel to warm it up while Mulholland drove to shore.
