Photographer crawls through mud to rescue trapped eagle

A nature photographer crawled through thick mud to rescue a trapped white-tailed eagle near the Polish town of Swinoujscie.

With a rope attached to dry land, Krzysztof Chomicz dragged himself through the mud to rescue the bird on July 26, as a drone captured footage of the dramatic rescue from above. The distressed bird attacked Chomicz during the rescue but eventually he was able to bring it back to dry land.

The bird was then cleaned and cared for by wildlife conservation workers before being transferred to a refuge in Szczecin, Poland. The eagle, nicknamed Icarus by its caretakers, is believed to have been six months old and may have gotten stuck in the mud during its very first flight.