Good NewsBuck rescued from sinkhole in Iowa by three college friends
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Three men in Iowa en-“deered” themselves to nature lovers after they used rope to rescue a 10-point buck from a sinkhole at a farm in Winneshiek County last month.
Farmer Gary Smorstad’s tractor tire slid into the sinkhole while he was putting up hay. When Smorstand and a neighbour towed the tractor free, they discovered the buck looking up at them from inside the sinkhole.
Smortstad’s son, Eric, and his two college friends, Gavin Nimrod and Bryton Meyer, came to the rescue. They picked up some rope and a clip at a Walmart, then drove out to the farm to try pull the deer to safety.
"It was hard to see; only three or four feet wide and maybe ten feet deep," Nimrod told the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “We made a loop, caught an antler and kept his head up. We decided to tie another rope; Eric and Bryton held my legs and I went down and re-tied it.”
Their successful rescue attempt was captured by a phone propped up on the hood of a nearby pickup truck.
"It was just something you don’t get the opportunity to do, rescue a deer. So you get the chance and you take it," Nimrod told the Des Moines Register.
He added, “It was the most fun we’ve had since we won the state in football.”
The deer appeared to be in good health and quickly dashed off once its feet were back on solid ground.
"He stopped fighting and looked around, like he was grateful," Nimrod said of the rescued buck. ”Then he got his legs under him and took off.”
Smorstad told KWWL-TV that he hopes the deer will return the kindness by leaving his crops alone.
[ More Good News: Rescue dog returns the favour, saves family from fire ]
Earlier this year, a Minnesota man performed an emergency c-section on a dead pregnant deer to save its fawn’s life.
“It’s kind of crazy,” wildlife rehabilitator Polly Rixe told CBS Minnesota of the fawn’s birth story. “I wouldn’t necessarily promote people doing that, but I guess for this particular fawn, it’s a happy ending.”
As of May, rescuers believed that the fawn, named Bambi, would be reintroduced into the wild this fall.
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