A fisherman in Florida had an unexpected passenger that ended up sleeping on his kayak for hours after he saved him from drowning. Steve with Key West Kayak Fishing was about to spend his day fishing when he spotted a little raccoon swimming across the channel.
Given the waters had sharks swimming around and the animal was clearly not where he should be, Steve figured he would pick the raccoon up and drop him off at the nearest island but instead the raccoon climbed on board and promptly fell to sleep.
In the video, Steve paddles up next to the raccoon who immediately crawls up into the rear of Steve’s kayak and into his tackle box.
“I guess he was exhausted because within a couple of minutes, he was sound asleep and I couldn’t wake him up,” said Steve in his video’s description. The little raccoon snored and snored.
At first Steve tried to drop him off at an nearby island but the raccoon refused to wake up so Steven went fishing and thought he might catch the “little sleepyhead some lunch.” A nice fat mullet little raccoon?
Key West Kayak Fishing
After a couple of hours, the raccoon was still sleeping so Steve gave up his plan to drop the raccoon off at the nearest island but instead took him back to the main island (Big Pine Key). Steve was so considerate he paddled all the way back, not wanting to turn on his outboard engine and disturb his rescue.
When Steve eventually pulled up to shore at Big Pine Key the sun was setting and the raccoon was still sleepy and refusing to budge. So, he pulled boat to shore to reassure the raccoon that he was on dry land. Eventually Steve had to lift up his tackle box and place it on the ground to get the raccoon got out.
The animal stepped out and looked around like “where am I?” and off he went.
Steve says Big Pine Key is a good new home for the raccoon. He said, “Big Pine Key is a wild deer sanctuary with not a lot of people and cars so I think he will be happy there.”
People adored Steve’s kind rescue effort and his video has received millions of views.
“He had to have been on his last bit of strength to just fall asleep next to a human so fast,” noted one viewer. “You saved him. Good job, brother.”
One viewer remarked, “The fact that you paddled back by hand so as to not wake/scare the racoon with the engine is particularly sweet of you.”
Another said, “I saw this story and thought, ‘How could rescuing a raccoon possibly hold my interest for 12 minutes? Then I was sorry when it ended. I could have watched another hour!!! Good people are becoming a rarity in this world. My very best to you and yours. Stay happy and stay healthy.”
One viewer commented, “I absolutely adore the fact that you were so kind and so willing to put aside your plans to help this animal! It was obviously in a very dangerous situation. For him to be able to climb onto your kayak and fall asleep almost instantly with a human next to him should show everyone how desperate he was and how much energy he depleted! You heroically saved him when he was moments from death! Thank you.”
“This was incredibly precious. Without a shadow of a doubt you saved his life, then your kindness in helping him by letting him recover from his ordeal by the deep restorative sleep he needed was wonderful,” said another. “It is a privilege to be able to help a wild animal and an honour for us should they fall asleep by us when they are at their most vulnerable. Your kindness too in choosing to not switch the motor on which very likely would scare him, but to paddle all the way back was beautiful. You are an absolutely amazing human being, thank you.”
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