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Man riding unicorn rescues goose from snapping turtle

Posted at 8:36 AM, Jun 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-05 15:43:48-04

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - A heroic story involving a turtle, goose, and a unicorn played out this weekend in West Des Moines, Iowa, and the whole thing was caught on video.

A video posted by Cary Coppola on Twitter over the weekend shows the events. Coppola told WHO he was driving past a pond when his wife noticed a goose struggling in the water. Coppola went to his brother's house, changed into swim gear, and grabbed the first flotation device he could find: a giant unicorn.

He swam out to the goose, thinking its foot was tangled in a net but found a snapping turtle pulling on its leg. Coppola managed to swim to shore on the unicorn, pulling the goose and turtle behind. Back on shore, his brother was able to separate them and the goose ran off, while the turtle swam away hungry.

In the video, the goose hobbled away to his waiting family. WHO found geese still hanging out in the pond on Monday, but it's unclear whether the lucky gosling was among them.

On Monday, Coppola said he doesn't have any regrets about his decision, but his brother had one.

"It's all his kids' toys, it was the biggest one that fit me," he said. "He's sorry he didn't send his huge pink flamingo because he thought it would be funnier."