A brave rescuer put his hands in harm’s way to free a distressed hawk that had become trapped in fishing lines.
The man’s footage shows him walking along a riverbank and spotting the bird in the shallows, with its tattered wings submerged in the water.
This is the moment a brave man rescued an ensnared hawk in the Vologda Oblast, Russia
When he approached the bird it was lying by the side of a river with its wings in the water
The video shows the man diligently working away for five minutes to release the stranded bird, with his feet sinking into the muddy banks.
At one point, he strokes its feathered neck.
The rescuer said: ‘When I found the bird, it could not budge. The claws and paws of a bird predator are entangled in nets.
‘I had to try to rescue the bird. In less than five minutes, the bird was free.’
After cutting away the fishing net the bird spread its wings and flew away
The bird is pictured here leaving. The rescuer said: ‘I had to try to rescue the bird’