One morning, a group of kids from the Brazilian state of So Paulo was on their way to school by boat when something drew their attention.
An animal was in trouble there, struggling in the ocean far from land.
Boat skipper Jean Claude Mendes decided to take action after knowing about it. Children also pushed him on board. To get a better look, he circled the ship.
Then, he and his young passengers noticed that the creature was a wild kitten that had ended up stranded in the ocean between the island and the mainland. They thought it was an ocelot.
The little ocelot started swimming toward the boat as it stopped.
Mendes was then able to save her by picking her up with the children’s assistance.
After that, Mendes and his companions helped the ocelot kitten reach the bank she had been swimming toward by carrying her to dry land. Hopefully, her mother was waiting there after arriving at the seaside earlier.
In the meanwhile, authorities have been keeping an eye on the area to be sure.
According to Environmental Police Sergeant Augusto, the area is the species’ native habitat and the animal was unharmed, so returning it in the same direction was crucial.
It was an experience that Mendes and the students are probably not going to forget for a while yet.
