The other day, while paddleboarding in Austin, Texas, two fishermen named Tucker and Owen spotted something struggling in the water. From a distance, with the river’s current flowing strong, the pair noticed
an animal with only his head above the rushing water.
“I saw what I thought was a dog at first,” Tucker told The Dodo.
But he was wrong.
It turns out the struggling animal was a raccoon, whose sheltering spot had likely been swept away in the rising waters.
“[He] was not doing good at all,” Tucker said. “I raced over to help him out. I put my paddle out and scooped him up.”
Once safely aboard, the raccoon was clearly exhausted but still very much alive. After an initial show of feistiness, the animal trusted Tucker enough to take shelter from the rain beneath him:
“I paddled over to the other side to make sure he could get out safely,” Tucker said. “I was nervous when he was on my paddleboard. [But] he felt safe underneath me. I couldn’t explain how that made me feel.”
In the end, the raccoon was returned to solid ground.
“We then got him over [to the shore], and he ran off without another look,” Tucker said.
It had been a harrowing experience for all involved. But in the moments they shared the paddleboard that ultimately delivered the raccoon to safety, Tucker sensed that his actions weren’t taken for granted.
“I felt he was grateful,” Tucker said.
