Watch scared pelican snared by a fishing hook fly away after kind strangers free it

A video posted this week on YouTube captured the moment a brown pelican on North Carolina’s Outer Banks regained its ability to fly, after a two friends freed it from an angler’s hook and multiple lead sinkers.

The rescue took place at 8:26 a.m. Tuesday, according to the video, and the two people fought both surf and the uncooperative bird to complete the act of kindness.

In the end, they resorted to throwing a woman’s purple sweater over the bird’s beak to quiet it long enough for the hook to be pulled loose with a pair of pliers, the video shows.

The tug-of-war lasted more than two minutes, but the video concludes victoriously with the freed bird waddling into the surf and flying out to sea.

It isn’t clear who filmed the rescue.

TV station WTVD identified the two Good Samaritans as friends Val Newcomb and Denise Karaoli, and it reports they decided to help after seeing the bird’s predicament.

The video was filmed on Hatteras Island, one of the several places the large birds (wing spans of up to 6.5 feet) spend summers in North Carolina before migrating south for the winter, according to the North Carolina Audubon Society.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 5:12 PM.