October 1, 2024 — 10:14 local time

Heavy rain had turned the vineyard’s drainage channel into a torrent of brown, foaming water, tearing between the vine rows beneath mist-covered hills. It was there, on the crumbling muddy bank, that a rescuer’s chest-mounted bodycam recorded a small white rabbit — soaked through, its fur plastered with patches of mud, stranded with the floodwater rushing past just inches away.

The footage, timestamped 2024-10-01 10:14:38, opens with the rabbit already cradled gently in the rescuer’s gloved hands. Its large ears are upright, its pink nose twitches rapidly, and its wide eyes follow every movement. One slip off the eroding bank would have put the small animal directly into the channel, where the current was strong enough to sweep away debris far heavier than a rabbit.

Wearing a royal-blue waterproof rescue jacket, thick black protective gloves and a rescue harness, the rescuer works slowly and deliberately. Rather than grabbing, he adjusts both hands beneath the rabbit’s chest and hindquarters, supporting its full body weight the way handling experts recommend for an animal with a delicate spine. Droplets shake loose from the rabbit’s muddy fur as it blinks and twitches its ears, but it does not struggle.

Midway through the 15-second recording, the rescuer lifts the rabbit higher and turns away from the channel’s edge, carrying it along the vine rows while the muddy water continues to roar behind them. The rabbit keeps its paws tucked close to its body, fully supported, its whiskers trembling in the rain.

In the closing seconds, the rescuer lowers the rabbit onto a raised patch of grass between the vineyard rows, keeping one gloved hand beneath its body until it is steady. The rabbit settles onto the grass, nose still twitching, and looks around — wet, muddy and frightened, but on safe ground at last.

Animal welfare workers note that rabbits are among the most vulnerable animals in farm flooding: their burrows fill quickly, they chill fast in wet conditions, and even shallow-looking flood currents can sweep them away. Anyone who finds a stranded rabbit is advised to move slowly, support the chest and hindquarters together when lifting — never lift by the ears — and set the animal down on dry, raised ground away from the water.

No music plays over the bodycam audio — only rainfall striking the grape leaves, the rush of the muddy channel, wind moving through the vines, wet footsteps and the soft sound of the rabbit’s breathing. It is a small rescue on a very wet morning: two steady hands, one muddy white rabbit, and a short carry from the edge of the flood to safety.