A deer strayed onto a frozen river and fell through the ice, but an animal rescue group on Long Island, New York, rescued it.In it’s Facebook page, the Strong Island Animal Rescue League described the rescue that took place at Southaven Park in Yaphank, Suffolk County.
According to their post,Ryan Gilmartin of the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center and Strong Island rescuer Frankie Floridia teamed up to figure out how to pull the 3-year-old doe out of the icy water.After being brought back to shore by the men, the deer was taken to the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center. According to officials, she is doing well and will soon be released back into the wild.
The post reads,”After speaking with the caller and Evelyn Alexander Frankie put on his wet suit grabbed the gear and immediately headed out. While in route he spoke to nearby neighbors Sam and Garrett that were willing to help get a boat and more man power that was needed .Frankie was halfway to the location when we heard the deer had fallen through the ice and was treading water to keep her head above water. This is where the fun begins. When I arrived Ryan from Evelyn was just getting there as well We had to act fast with assistance from the police and good samaritans we put the boat over the fence tied a 100 foot rope to it and put it in the water .. well the ice . The boat would not go anywhere due to the 2 inch ice that had frozen over the top of the water it was not thick enough to walk on but thick enough to not let the boat go through it . So… Frankie stood on the front of the boat and smashed the ice while Ryan manned the boat. This was no easy task as the boat was wobbly and if it tipped we would be in freezing waters over our heads. Carefully but aggressively Frankie broke through nearly 60 feet of ice to get the struggling doe. We were doing good and getting close , Frankie felt he needed a moment to catch his breath when we saw the doe start to give up . It was do or die. Both Frankie and Ryan put it into high adrenaline mode and pushed their hardest to get to her. We were able to safely get her on the boat and the team at the shore started to pull us back ! We are absolutely confident that if we were 2 minutes later she would not have survived. When we go to shore the ground team took her over the fence and got her into a warm car with blankets and headed straight to the hospital at Evelyn Alexander. We did it we gave it our all and saved this little girl from certain death….”
