
Milton Grace and Joey Chamberlin paddle to shore with a wounded deer they saved from the icy Gatineau River. Photo by Trevor Greenway of the Low Down
Click here to see more dramatic photos of the daring rescue
In a daring act of heroics, two Wakefield, Quebec men risked their own safety on the Gatineau River’s icy open waters to save a deer from drowning.
At about 8 a.m. March. 9 a struggling deer could be seen in the water of the Wakefield Bay. For more than two hours it desperately tried in vain to pull itself up and onto a patch of ice on the east side of the river.
Then, at 10:30 a.m. Milton Grace paddled up in a kayak.
As Grace approached the deer, he spoke softly to the creature, all the while trying to get his kayak up onto the solid ice. For about ten minutes Grace circled the deer through the broken ice pieces with no luck getting any solid footing.
From across the river on the village side Joey Chamberlin saw the desperate scene and decided to help in the rescue. After cruising Wakefield Heights Rd in search of a boat he found an old fishing tinny in a snow bank and decided to give it a shot.
Pushing his way along the unpredictable spring ice, Chamberlin inched the tin boat along the surface towards the open water and the deer. Realizing the ice could give away at any moment, he jumped in the boat using the oars to push him closer. Read More…
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