Rescuers break through 200 yards of ice to save a deer who had lost all hope.

A deer was making her way across a frozen lake in New Hampshire last month when something terrifying happened — she broke through the ice and fell into the frigid water.

When the Gilmanton Fire Department received a call about the trapped deer, they immediately rushed to help. The team of five rescuers got in their inflatable rescue boat and quickly went to work breaking through the ice and paddling over to save her.

Firefighters in yellow boat breaking through ice toward deer in the distance — GILMANTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

She was completely stuck in the middle of the lake. Over 200 yards from shore, she was barely visible.

The rescuers reached the deer just in time. They found her clinging to the ice with her front feet, barely keeping her head above water. Of course, the firefighters wasted no time returning her to dry land. And since they knew the lake’s ice was so thin, they worked hard to make sure she wouldn’t end up getting stuck again.

Deer on yellow boat being carried to shore — GILMANTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

“[We] actually gave [her] a ride back on the boat up to somewhere that was safe in the woods so [she] didn’t run back into the lake,” John Cunningham, captain of the Gilmanton Fire Department, told The Dodo.

As to how she ended up in the middle of the lake, she was likely just trying to cross it and had no idea the ice wasn’t thick enough to support her weight. According to Cunningham, deer walk on that lake all the time, but since the weather had recently warmed up then cooled down again, the ice was much thinner than usual.

Deer on snow lying in warming blanket — GILMANTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

When the firefighters got the deer to shore, she needed a lot of help recovering from her ordeal in the cold water.

“[The] deer was shivering and cold enough that [she] wasn’t really moving around a whole lot. So we ended up using warming blankets to warm [her] up,” Cunningham said.

Once she was cuddled up in the blankets, it didn’t take long for the deer to start feeling better. Soon, she was much more alert and able to start moving around.

Cunningham said that after about an hour, she just got up and “ran off into the woods.”