Pelican Harbor Seabird Station and good Samaritans help save 2 possums, double-crested cormorant

A couple of furry creatures and a feathered patient are recovering after good Samaritans offered a helping hand.

Just because they scurry and fly doesn’t mean we can’t look out for them, too.

Two possums are on the road to recovery, thanks to Jackson Cecchett.

Cecchett was on a morning run when he saw the two furry animals struggling to keep afloat in the waters behind the Pérez Art Museum.

He didn’t hesitate to jump in to try to save the animals.

“I couldn’t tell what kind of animal it was,” he said. “I was like, ‘Was it a cat? Was it a dog? Was it like some otter that was sitting on this thing?'”

He looked a little closer and saw it was two possums.

He started wading over to them and was coached by an animal rescue volunteer on how to safely pick them up.

“It’s going to try to bite, it’s going to hiss. It’s OK. It’s OK. You’re going to feel pressure,” said the animal rescue volunteer.

“When it saw me in the water, it kind of perked up, and started swimming towards me, and I was like kinda freaked out,” said Cecchett. “Luckily, I didn’t -’cause, when I had the gloves, it did, like, bite me, and I was like, ‘Oh. if I had grabbed it then it probably wouldn’t have been that good.'”

Cecchett successfully brought them to safety at Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, where they’re receiving treatment and will be released once fully recovered.

The good Samaritan said he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to being kind to animals.

“I was looking at him, and I was like, ‘If this was a cat, I would help. If this was a dog, I would help. What’s the difference if it’s a possum?'” said Cecchett.

There was another lifesaving rescue, but this time of the winged variety. The station helped save a double-crested cormorant found on Miami Beach.

A good Samaritan found the water bird with two fish weights lodged in his stomach and a third piercing his wing.

Officials tried feeding it fish stuffed with cotton, hoping the cotton would latch onto the hooks and he could regurgitate them safely.

It didn’t work, so they were forced to operate to remove the hooks.

Luckily, this bird will be soaring again soon.

The station wants to remind boaters of the devastating impact improperly used or discarded fishing gear can have on wildlife.