SCRANTON, Pa. (WNEP) — It was an icy and daring deer rescue on Scranton’s Mountain Lake Wednesday morning.
A deer fell through the ice and struggled to get out for more than an hour.
A woman walking her dog nearby spotted it and called 911.
Scranton rescue crews suited up and went into the water.
“We put two rescuers in our thermal protection suits for ice rescue and our plan was to try to scare it back into the shoreline,” said Lt. Brian Scott of Scranton Fire Department.
Those rescuers were in the water for more than 45 minutes, punching their way through the ice, herding the deer to shore.
It was freezing and exhausting work.
“My suit has a hole in it, for one thing, second of all, it was fine, I was walking out at first and then I got halfway to the deer and that’s when I felt the ice go and I had to use my forearm to pound my way through, probably about 150 feet before I go to the deer and then when I got to him, I scooped him up onto the ice,” said Bill Walsh, a Scranton firefighter.
The deer was cold and weak, but otherwise healthy.
It ran off into the nearby woods.
“I’ve never done this before. I’m here 22 years, this is my first deer rescue! I’m tired, I’m tired,” said Walsh.
Scranton police and the Pennsylvania Game Commission were also present at the morning rescue.