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There’s an old, cliché idea that firefighters spend most of their time rescuing cats from trees. And though that may not be true, they do occasionally get the opportunity to rescue a cute animal. Thursday night Captain Tony Freeman of the Arcata Fire District rescued an adorable baby fawn that was trapped in a storm drain in McKinleyville. 

The rescue occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday on Blackbird Ave., after some bystanders who were on a walk called to say that they heard distressed animal cries and discovered the fawn at the bottom of a storm drain. In a phone interview Friday morning, Freeman told the Outpost that he tried to call Animal Control, but the department didn’t have anyone on shift that late in the day. So, Freeman, along with other responders from AFD and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, took the call. AFD posted the event on its Instagram:

Freeman himself made the rescue, climbing down into the storm drain and picking up the tired and frightened animal, using gloves to be sure not to transfer his human scent. Freeman said that one of the people who made the call also assisted with the rescue by providing a fishing net to cover the drainpipe opening at the bottom of the storm drain, so that the fawn would not try to run into the opening and become further trapped.

Luckily, the little fawn was very docile and allowed Freeman to pick it up with no issues. After rescuing the fawn, Freeman placed it into the nearby wooded area and it scampered away. The animal did not appear to have any injuries, Freeman said. 

As for how the fawn got into the storm drain, Freeman is not entirely sure. But he guesses that the fawn was crossing the street with its mother and slipped into the opening at the curb as it was crossing the storm grate. Freeman’s hope is that the mother was still nearby and that it will hear the fawn’s cries and the two will soon be reunited. 

Freeman wanted to thank the other responders as well as the community members who called in the incident and assisted with the rescue, and encouraged the rest of the community to report incidents like this. 

“We don’t get animal calls too often,” Freeman said. “As soon as this happened, I knew it would make the news. Everyone loves an animal rescue.”