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Wabash College wrestler rescues cat in viral video

HOBART, Ind. (WISH) – A wrestler from Wabash College in Crawfordsville saw a cat struggling to get out of an icy lake and said he felt like he had to do something about it. 

A viral video shows the cat struggling after falling into an icy lake on Monday in Hobart in northwestern Indiana. 

The cat tries to lift itself up on the ice but keeps breaking through. 

That’s when 21-year-old old college senior Darden Schurg made a split-second decision. 

His family was cheering him on as he jumped into the icy water: “Oh, my gosh, come on, Darden, you’ve got this! Go, go, go, go!”

Schurg said after the rescue, “I felt like it was just something I had to do. I kind of have a small place for animals and I just love wildlife, so seeing that cat kind of bothered me. I just couldn’t stand by.” 

As Schurg sawm the 30-40 yards, he said his adrenaline kicked in. “Once I started kicking, I was able to get through that ice.”

The cat upon seeing its rescuer come closer stopped moving with just two paws left on the ice. 

Schurg said, “I could tell he was an outside feral cat ’cause he was kind of growling and hissing at me, but he was too cold to be able to do anything. So, I kind of took the hisses and the growling as a thank you.”

After a few tense moments, Schurg finally reached the shore and lifted the cat from the water.

Schurg said, “He got to a point where he was able to run off on his own. So, I think he’s doing pretty good.”

Darden said the sharp ice scraped him up, but his dad, another animal lover who first spotted the cat, “was superproud of me.”