Lion Country Safari Employee Saves Newborn Wildebeest From Drowning (VIDEO)

On Sunday, Lion Country Safari's wildlife director, Terry Wolf, was checking up on a momma wildebeest who was giving birth when the 20-pound baby was finally pushed out -- but then, as it struggled to stand, it fell into a canal. As the Palm Beach Post explains, Wolf intervened: "Like...

By Deirdra Funcheon

September 23, 2013

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On Sunday, Lion Country Safari's wildlife director, Terry Wolf, was checking up on a momma wildebeest who was giving birth when the 20-pound baby was finally pushed out -- but then, as it struggled to stand, it fell into a canal.

As the Palm Beach Post explains, Wolf intervened: "Like a "Baywatch" lifeguard clad in safari green, he threw his smartphone to the floorboard, dropped his walkie-talkie as he rushed to the water's edge, and quickly waded to the newborn gnu." (Gnu is another word for wildebeest.)

Thankfully, the mom ran away instead of charging Wolf.

After several tries -- "the baby was still slippery with amniotic fluid, and water grass entangled both man and wildebeest," the Post reports -- Wolf brought the baby over to her, away from the canal, and finally, it nursed.

The father wildebeest was said to be "agitated."

Here's video of the rescue that an observer posted on Facebook:

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