Jeff Huckelbery is pictured Friday warming a deer that found itself in the Chadakoin River. Huckelbery pulled the struggling deer from the water at McCrea Point Park. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

A young deer that found itself in the Chadakoin River got back onto solid ground Friday with the help of a good Samaritan.

Jeff Huckelbery came across the wildlife while walking his dogs on the Riverwalk at McCrea Point Park in Jamestown. He learned from another man, Tom Shea, that the deer had been in the water for some time and was struggling to find a way out.

“I told Jeff the poor thing was swimming back and forth and couldn’t get out of the water,” Shea told The Post-Journal.

Huckelbery went to the park side of the river and, putting one leg into the Chadakoin for leverage, managed to get the deer onto the shore.

“I put one foot in and grabbed them,” he said afterward. “I kind of had to come up and surprise them a little to grab on.”

Another bystander quickly provided blankets for the shivering animal.

Gregory Fye, the city’s animal control officer, responded to the park after learning of the distressed deer.