Austin Firefighters Rescue Deer Entangled In Netting

AUSTIN, TX — Austin residents are well aware of the important, life-saving work of the city's firefighters. It's dangerous work that often goes unheralded, the job often only coming into our consciousness during big fires that capture headlines.

But there's much more to being a firefighter, and sometimes rescues involve residents of the non-human kind too. The Austin Fire Department this weekend posted a video snippet on Twitter showing firefighters rescuing a deer that was trapped in batting cage netting, showing the dramatic moments before the panicked animal was released back into the wild to resume its tranquil deer life.

It's unclear where or when the rescue took place, but fire officials wrote on Twitter it took 15 minutes to rescue the horribly entangled buck which likely exacerbated the dilemma in which it found itself by thrashing about in a panic.

Residents applauded the efforts on a comments thread, including one woman who said the sight more than made up for the prolonged amount of time it took her to fill out a survey related to fire services the day before. "This is awesome," the woman wrote. "This is why I ranked AFD the highest possible rating in that dreadful city survey that ate about 25 minutes of my life last night," Marie Cloutier wrote.

John Bunner cracked wise even while thanking the firefighters for the rescue: "You guys are awesome! He’ll be dining on my plants in no time."

Another Twitter user with the handle "randomhuman" followed by a long series of numbers wrote: "Thank you all for your commitment to this community of people and other animals!!" Um, speak for yourself randomhuman! Patch is not an animal!

Others were impressed that some firefighters involved effected the rescue without the benefit of gloves. These are tough people, these men and women of the Austin Fire Department. But more than that, they care for all life — human or otherwise.