That’s one happy ass.
The eight-year-old donkey escaped from his enclosure in Kerry, Ireland, after the shed, fence and gate were washed away in a storm that’s been hammering Ireland and the UK.
He wandered off but became trapped in floodwaters on Sunday.
The donkey’s owner called search and rescue for help, but they weren’t able to come through, UK magazine Horse and Hound reports.
That’s when Animal Heaven Animal Rescue stepped in.
The organization put out a call for help on Facebook. Mike Fleming, who belongs to a rowing club nearby, volunteered to bring out his small motor boat with the help of another volunteer named Declan.
But time was running out. By the time help arrived, the donkey had been trapped in the floods for around 12 hours.
“We knew we only had an hour before the floods got worse, so we wanted to give him a chance,” Suzanne Gibbons, owner of Animal Heaven Animal Rescue, told Horse and Hound.
“When we got to the donkey we saw that if he stepped a couple of inches in either direction he would have drowned.”
The rescuers placed an orange ring buoy around the donkey’s neck and slowly towed him to shore.
The donkey’s owner was “crying and jumping up and down” when he saw that his donkey was safe, Gibbons said.
“We named him Mike after his hero who had brought the boat out for him,” she said.
Mike is resting and recovering at the rescue centre and will be headed home soon.
“All he needs is loads of TLC,” Gibbons said.
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