A man was driving along a lonely road in the U.K. when he spotted a muntjac deer collapsed on the road. Being an animal rescuer, he jumped out to check on her and see if he could help.

Unfortunately, the poor deer passed away, but then he noticed something unusual. The deer’s belly was moving. She had been pregnant when she was hit by a car, and her baby was fighting to get out.

Thankfully, the man, who is a staffer at Hillside Animal Sanctuary, had an appropriate tool on him, and “was able to cut the young deer out of her mother’s belly.” He wrapped up the premature fawn and brought her to the sanctuary, where she arrived “barely clinging to life.”

Image: Hillside Sanctuary

They fed her emergency colostrum, the early milk many mammals feed their young that’s crucial to their survival and hoped for the best, writes The Dodo. Fortunately, the next day she looked like a different deer, standing on her own and alert, “looking much brighter.”

Image: Hillside Sanctuary

“She is certainly not out of the woods yet, but we are hoping that she will make a full recovery,” he added. The little deer has a long way to go, but hopefully she’ll get to live on as her mother’s last legacy.

And though she entered the world in a particularly tragic way, this little deer couldn’t have fallen into better hands.

H/T: The Dodo

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