For the second time in two months, the Moose Jaw Fire Department, along with the Moose Jaw Police Service and local conservations officers, conducted an animal rescue in Wakamow Valley, saving a pair of deer that had fallen through the ice. 

Fire Chief Rod Montgomery explains what happened.

"The call came in at 8:52 am saying there were deer stuck in the water at Wakamow Valley. Our crews responded, and we used a floatation device for the rescue which was bought for us by the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club, it was nice to be able to use it. It was all a great opportunity for our members to go out and train with it, and they all did a great job."

It was only 5 years ago that the Moose Jaw Fire Department was able to take a water rescue course, which helped significantly in a situation like this.

Montgomery says most of the time, wild animals aren't too eager to have humans within arm's reach trying to grab them, but luckily, that wasn't the case with these two.

"They had been out in the water for quite some time, so they didn't put up as much of a fight as perhaps they would have under normal circumstances. It all went really well."

Conservation officers on the scene were able to check the animals after they were brought back to shore and determined that while exhausted, they were well enough to be let go.

Montgomery says over the course of his 30+ years with the department, there haven't been too many animal rescue calls that the fire department has had to respond to. But in the last year years, there's been at least three.

"A good message for people out of this is that the ice isn't safe. Everybody, families, don't go out on the ice and have that false sense of security, you might end up like the deer. If there is a message that goes out, that's it."

All photo's courtesy of the Moose Jaw Police Service Facebook page.