Real Life Bambis Rescued From Frozen Lake

Police officer James Kenison and his father Doug rescue a stranded deer who could not walk on the frozen lake on December 2, 2013 in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

The three stricken deer were thrown a lifeline after being towed off the frozen lake by a cop on a hovercraft. James Kenison and his father Doug drove a quarter of a mile onto frozen Albert Lea Lake in Minnesota to save the stranded animals. The pair, who run hovercraft tour company, MedCity Hovercraft, tied ropes round the tired deers and dragged them to shore.

The compassionate rescue was captured on camera by James, who said he believed the deer had been out on the lake for days after being unable to walk on the slick ice.

But just how did they get there? The mystery of the three prostrate deer stranded for two days in the middle of this frozen lake remains, since their hooves would make walking in the slick ice impossible.

The dad-of-four made several trips a quarter of a mile onto Albert Lea Lake to make sure each animal made it home safely. The 39-year-old said: “I saw a Facebook photo of a deer on the ice and someone suggested we might be able to reach it on the hovercraft. We knew it had been stuck out there for a few days so we prepared for the worst, but when we got there we found three of them - and they were in surprisingly good shape."