Seconds after noticing the deer in the water, Storm "plunged into the water and started swimming out to the fawn, grabbed it by the neck, and started swimming to shore," Mark Freely, Storm’s human companion, told WCBS-TV.
Luckily for us, Freely, quick to record the momentous save, whipped out his phone and proceeded to give viewers a moment-by-moment narration of Storm’s rescue efforts.
"Storm is saving this baby deer right this minute," Freely said as his doggo dragged the deer towards the beach.
After finally reaching land, Storm nipped and nuzzled the three-month-old bambi to check whether it was still alive. With no response, the best pup ever began to paw the life back into the scared friend.
Frank Floridia, with Strong Island Animal Rescue, responded to the incident in hopes of getting the deer the help it needed. Unfortunately, as Floridia and Freely approached the disheveled deer, it got spooked and ran into the water for a second time.
With the deer having gone too far out, Storm sat this round out.
"They tried to encourage Storm to go back into the water, but the deer was so far out that Storm could not see the deer," Erica Kutzing, the animal rescue’s co-founder, told The Washington Post.
After noticing the deer’s head was underwater, Floridia then proceeded into the water.
"It was a do-or-die situation," Floridia told the New York Daily News. "I really didn’t have much of a choice. If I didn’t go in the water the deer would’ve died."
Having since been transported to the Star Foundation, a wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center, the battered deer is being treated for subcutaneous emphysema along with a scraped eye and ticks.
According to Lori Ketcham, the director at the facility, once the deer is old enough and has fully recovered it will be released back into the wild, she told The Washington Post.
As for Storm, a shining star among man’s best friends, he’s currently enjoying his celebrity status.
Good boy, Storm!
