But when they got close enough, they realized it was no seal … and the poor furry creature was trapped!

It all began when Mallory Harrigan and her boyfriend Cliff Russell, crab fishermen from Labrador, Canada, set out early one crystal clear morning.

Mallory, Cliff, and the rest of the crew sailed through the harbor, and everything seemed pretty normal.

There were hundreds of tiny icebergs around them; chunks of ice that often break free from larger bergs at that time of year.

Then, when they were several miles from shore, they realized that a flock of seagulls seemed intent on one particular piece of ice…

And on that piece of ice, there appeared to be an animal of some kind. It made sense to think it was a seal.

But as they got closer, they realized the animal had fur and it looked a lot like a dog…

Well, they weren’t far off: it turned out to be a stranded arctic fox!

The crew figured the poor thing had been on the ice when it broke away from the shoreline, and now there was no way for the fox to escape.

Mallory and Cliff knew they had to help, but how? They couldn’t reach the fox from the deck of the boat.

So, they decided to gently hit the iceberg with the ship, so the chunk the fox was on would fall into the water.

And the instant the fox was in the water, they could scoop him up with one of their big nets!

Well, it was a good plan but the frightened creature had no idea the fishermen crew was trying to save him, so he fought like crazy against that net.

Thankfully, however, they were finally able to drag the soaked, scared animal on board. What a rescue!

They then set up the fox with a makeshift bed, so he could rest, warm up, and get his strength back.

The fox was obviously starving, though, so the crew wasn’t sure the little guy was going to make it. And he refused to eat any crackers, too.

But it was just a matter of the type of food … because when he was offered Vienna sausages, he ate ’em all up!

At long last, they got the fox back to land and though he was at first a little suspicious, he eventually darted off, back into the icy wild!

Mallory and Cliff didn’t catch any crab that day, but they did save the life of an amazing and beautiful animal.

Wouldn’t you say that’s a fair trade-off?

Source: Honest to Paws

The post Strange Animal Stranded On A Hunk Of Ice – Fishermen Get Closer, Realize It’s No Sea Creature appeared first on Addicting Stories.