Jim did his best to free the animal, and time was running out. But his team didn’t give up. They all spent hours trying to rescue a beaver, who had gotten stuck in a mud trap. Jim didn’t realize what he’d just done. Once he took a closer look, he stumbled back and let out a huge scream. This animal wasn’t a beaver. What did he just do?
Jim Passmore lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, an area known for its beautiful scenery. Residents who lived here were fortunate because they got the chance to experience beautiful blue lakes, rolling hills, and breathtaking vistas. One day, Jim noticed something that caught his attention, and it was something that would prove to be quite surprising. He never would have seen it if he hadn’t been walking his dogs.
Jim loved his town’s surroundings. He also enjoyed taking his dogs out for a nice walk. They often traveled down the same path, which ran along the local creek. But one day, during his usual routine, Jim discovered something unusual. This walk wound up being like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. As Jim walked around the creek’s bend something caught his attention almost instantly.
Jim approached what appeared to be a mound, and that’s when his dogs began to behave oddly. The pooches growled as they got closer. Jim realized that this would make it more difficult to find out what the object was. So, he went back home to drop his dogs off, and then he ran back to the creek. As he took a closer look, he saw something that was difficult to describe.
The odd mound that caught Jim’s attention appeared to be moving. Jim decided to get a little closer, and that’s when he realized that an animal was trapped in the mud. The large creature squirmed helplessly right off the creek’s bank. And Jim wasted no time. He knew he had to give the animal a helping hand. But there was one thing that puzzled him. Jim still had no clue what animal it was he was rescuing.
Beavers were quite common in this area, which is exactly what Jim assumed this creature was. It suddenly dawned on him that the animal must have gotten stuck in the mud, and it wasn’t able to get loose. Jim reached out to a couple of friends, and they came over to the creek to see if they could help free the beaver. But there was one important detail about the creature they were rescuing that they had completely forgotten about.
Beavers have come after humans before. They’re territorial, and this fellow was no exception. In fact, the beaver wound up biting Jim’s friend. Everyone immediately panicked. After all, beavers often bite someone when they have rabies. The team member headed to the hospital to make sure he was okay, while the other friends stayed behind to help the beaver. And Jim knew how to prevent the beaver from attacking anyone again.
Jim wasn’t sure how long the beaver had been trapped in the mud, but it obviously felt vulnerable and scared. He decided to cover the beaver’s line of sight. He did this by wrapping his jersey around the creature’s head. The beaver immediately struggled, but eventually, it calmed down. This allowed the team to work quickly to save it. But there was one issue. The beaver wouldn’t budge no matter what they did.
Jim and his team came up with an alternative plan to rescue the animal, who was submerged halfway in the mud. They tried digging around the creature, but they failed. Then, Jim realized that they’d need a pulley system. So someone grabbed some rope, which Jim tied around the middle of the beaver. But it wasn’t long before they noticed that there was one major hiccup in their plan.
Jim and his friends pulled, but the beaver wouldn’t budge at first. It was stuck fairly deep in the mud. Eventually, the team felt the animal pulling away from the mud. This motivated everyone to continue pulling even more. Then, with one final pull, the beaver was safely yanked out of the mud. Then, Jim stumbled after he wiped the mud from the creature’s face. It turns out, that the animal wasn’t actually a beaver!
Jim was stunned! Once all the mud was removed, he saw that beneath all of the dirt, was a dog. It was still trembling after its horrible ordeal. Jim gasped. He had made the wrong assumption about the animal. He assumed it was a beaver, and it turned out to be a dog. This meant that they had to come up with a new plan, because they couldn’t exactly release it into the wild. Fortunately, Jim had the perfect solution.
Jim called the Oklahoma Alliance for Animals, and they immediately came to the aid of the dog. The dog had a couple of issues. For one thing, he didn’t seem to respond to humans at all. The Alliance knew they had a lot of work in store for them. But first things first. They decided to call the dog Teddy, because he was cuddly like a bear. But the vet had some sad news.
The vet explained that Teddy was incredibly obese, which explained why he had such a terrible time trying to get loose from the mud by the creek. His weight issues also put a lot of strain on his joints, which meant that Teddy felt discomfort whenever he got up or sat down. To make things worse, the vet believed Teddy had PTSD from being stuck in the mud for several days. But fortunately, there was still some hope.
At first, Teddy seemed to dislike everyone, but there was one woman that he allowed to approach him. The animal shelter’s receptionist had made a positive impression on him. She would visit Teddy every day. Eventually, he allowed her to pet him and cuddle with him. This gave rescuers hope that Teddy would eventually warm up to everyone else. Meanwhile, they decided that they needed to do something special for the pooch.
After Teddy grew accustomed to humans, the shelter decided to advertise Teddy. Despite their hesitation, they hoped that the pooch would get adopted. But Teddy was approximately eight years old, and older dogs don’t usually get adopted. People loved Teddy, and they were eager to meet this incredible animal. And ten months after being rescued from the mud, Teddy was able to find a forever home.