A clip has been shared online of the incredible moment a man ran into the sea to save a penguin – leaving viewers in tears.
Leila Ferreira was relaxing on a beach in Ubatuba, Brazil, with her husband, Rafael da Silva when she spotted a commotion in the water.
Bizarrely, a penguin was the cause of the attention – with the bird struggling to battle the crashing waves in the shore.
Realising the animal was in distress, Leila and her husband ran to the sea – with Leila filming the rescue attempt in a TikTok that garnered 1.9 million views.
“We were on the beach and there were a lot of people looking at the sea,” Leila told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk .
“We didn’t understand what was going on.
“Then we saw that it was a penguin and we ran to see – [we’d] never seen one before.
“My husband realised it was in trouble and went into the sea to rescue it.”
In the video, Rafael can be seen running up to the shore while the penguin is being pushed around in the rough waves.
He makes his way into the sea, stomping through the waves, before finally getting to the distressed bird.
He picks the penguin up and holds her in the air as he tries to get out of the sea.
Rafael finally makes it out, and is seen holding the penguin as he gently strokes her.
The couple then called the marine institute, who came to collect her.
She added: “We called the institute that takes care of marine animals and they came to get it.
“They said it was too thin and weak because it was without food.
“If we left her in the sea, it would have died!”
The post attracted hundreds of comments from users.
Samuel said: “Call his poor mother.”
Regalo added: “The penguin no longer.”
Someone else joked: “He said no in the end.”
Carmen wrote: “… the cutest animals in existence, take care of them.”
“I was about to have a freak,” said Lolanda.
“I’d have taken it home,” Meuri added.
