Astonishing Footage Shows Deer Killing Hawk to Rescue Rabbit

Deer friends make dear friends — especially when you are in the talons of certain doom.

Just ask this rabbit, who was filmed making a miraculous escape from a hawk after a deer tag-teamed in and trampled the predator to death.

The astonishing footage, captured last month at Nordic Mountain park in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, shows the hawk divebombing the unfortunate cottontail in the long grass, and preparing to make the kill.

Just as all seems lost for the about-to-be-eaten rabbit, a female deer suddenly sprints onto the scene — and makes a beeline for the attacking raptor.

Incredibly, the deer immediately begins stamping and kicking the deer with its front legs; the rabbit meanwhile doesn't wait for a second invitation to run for its life.

But the deer is not finished with the bird of prey; it spends the next three minutes mercilessly stomping it into the ground. A couple of times the hawk manages to get a few feet into the air, but it isn't as lucky as the rabbit. The deer determinedly swats it down every time, until the mangled carcass moves no more.

A second deer even peeks its head over at the commotion, only to be chased away by the killer deer, who returns to the dead bird for a few dozen more stamps, just to make sure.

The amazing interaction was discovered by the park's 29-year-old operations manager Kris Miller, who had been trimming trees nearby when he came across the red-tailed hawk dead on the ground, and decided to check the security cameras.

"I personally have never seen anything like this before," he said, per The Sun.

"I remember thinking to myself 'hawks don't just fall from the sky and die'... So I noticed we were in front of one of our security cameras and was hoping I could see what really happened."

"I played back the footage on my phone and what I found was astonishing. I showed it to my co-worker and he didn't know what to say," he recalled.

Miller explained that because Nordic Mountain is a county park, hunting is banned there, so many white tail deer migrate here knowing they're safe.

"In the video it appears either the red tailed hawk was struggling holding the rabbit or it swooped down to grab a rabbit," he said.

Miller said the rabbit started to make a distress call, and that the deer perhaps mistook the cries for help as from her own fawn.

"Or maybe it's just a true Bambi and Thumper story," he added.