LAKE OF THE PINES (KRON) — An East Bay family had a holiday weekend to remember, rescuing a fawn while on a trip up at Lake of the Pines and it was all caught on camera.

Heading out on their boat for a ride on the Lake of the Pines this weekend, the Freitas family stopped and turned around after hearing a cry for help from a small fawn, treading water.

“As soon as it jumped into the water, I could tell it was desperate and it wanted help,” said Jesse Freitas, who rescued the fawn.

The fawn was stuck on the rocks, but the family was determined to bring it to safety.

“As we pulled up, I wasn’t expecting it to jump and actually swim out towards me so I was actually taken aback a little bit,” Jesse Freitas said. “Then when it got close, I was actually afraid it was going to go under the pontoon, so I reached down and grabbed it out of the water.”

Jesse passed the fawn to his sister who was able to bring the fawn to its mother — who was waiting patiently on the shoreline.

“The mother was on the other side of the bush where I was and I was worried, I didn’t want it to attack me because I had her baby and then I was able to put it up on shore and it actually couldn’t walk at first,” said Jessica Freitas. “So I had to keep pushing it so it wouldn’t fall back into the water and then it walked up to the mother and started suckling on the mother.”

The entire rescue was caught on camera by a quick thinking passenger on board, Jessica’s daughter, Jaelyn, who learned quite a bit from the whole experience.

“If I see another animal that needs help, I will do everything to make it get back to its mother and father,” she said.

“We were talking after and I was like that’s never gonna happen again. Not too many people get to hold a deer, let alone a baby one that small,” Jesse Freitas said.

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