Raccoons and humans are two species that doesn't usually get along. So it's doubly touching to see humans reaching out to save a stranded raccoon in a time of need.

 In a recently surfaced video, a group of boaters noticed a raccoon struggling to float in a harbor in Maryland. At the beginning of the heartwarming clip, the tiny raccoon is seen swimming over to the human's boat for help.

Dennis Jay didn’t believe his buddy at first when he yelled on the Fourth of July from his 40-foot sailboat on Swann Creek in the Chesapeake Bay area.

“Hey man, there’s a raccoon in the water,” his friend said.

But when Jay and others went around the side of the boat and saw it for themselves, they quickly realized they had to help the little fellow. They threw the raccoon a life preserver. And the thankful furball climbed up on it. They then dragged it on the life preserver to shore.


Jay realized they had heard the raccoon’s sound for several hours but they thought it was birds chirping and thought nothing of it. They then realized that it was probably the raccoon trying to stay afloat.


“It’s not everyday you see a raccoon in the water,” he said. And to his son, Jay said “he’s gone up a couple of notches as far as being the cool dad” after his Internet stardom and five minutes of fame.