Bodycam footage recorded on September 14, 2024, at 12:28:09 shows a rescuer wading down the flooded central aisle of a historic church, where a small brown-and-white spaniel puppy sits stranded on a polished wooden pew above the muddy water, hymn books floating past and the colors of the stained-glass windows rippling across the surface.

The video, filmed entirely from the rescuer’s chest-mounted bodycam, opens looking down at the puppy where it waits on the wet pew. Its long curly ears are soaked, its wet fur clings to its small body, and its large dark brown eyes stay fixed on the rescuer with a frightened but gentle expression. The rescuer, wearing a dark charcoal waterproof rescue jacket with silver reflective bands, thick black waterproof gloves and a heavy-duty rescue harness hung with clips, is already beside the pew with both hands raised slowly in front of him.

He does not grab for the puppy. Both gloved hands come in slowly on either side of it and hold steady while it raises its head, its wet ears shifting slightly, and looks nervously from one hand to the other. Only when the puppy stays still do the hands close gently around it, one supporting its chest and the other beneath its abdomen, lifting it carefully clear of the slippery polished wood.

In the closing seconds the puppy is lowered gently down onto a folded towel resting on the pew, kept low and secure between the rescuer’s hands the whole time. Behind it the flooded aisle stretches back toward the altar and its wooden cross, the stained glass still throwing soft color across the water, while the puppy settles onto dry cloth at last — still soaked, still trembling a little, but safe above the flood.

Rescue workers remind the public never to wade into a flooded building themselves to reach a stranded animal: floodwater inside a structure can hide debris, sharp objects and sudden drops, and the current through doorways can be stronger than it looks. Calling local emergency or animal rescue services — and keeping a safe distance until they arrive — gives animals like this little spaniel the best chance of a calm, careful rescue like the one captured here.