Mystery surfer saves bird struggling in rough surf near Cocoa Beach pier: 'He's a hero'

COCOA BEACH, Fla. - People on social media are searching for a surfer who saved a struggling bird on Cocoa Beach. 

The rescue was caught on camera last week by someone on the pier. 

The video of the save has been shared hundreds of times on social media as people scour the internet for the Good Samaritan. 

"He’s a hero to a lot of people," said Brandon Terronez, who recorded the rescue during an evening walk on the beach. 

Terronez says he was walking on the famous Cocoa Beach pier around 7 p.m. when he noticed the distressed bird.

"We did think that poor bird might be done for in that moment," said the bystander. 

Seconds after he saw the bird, he saw a surfer moving in. The surfer picked up the bird, gently placed it on his surfboard, and started swimming back to shore.

"If this man would have come into shore, called in, it would not have been rescued, so this is a fantastic case, and we love to see it," said Heather Pepe-Dillon, who co-founded Wild Florida Rescue.

Her agency responds to calls about wildlife in distress daily in Brevard County. Although her team wasn’t called out for this specific save, she was still thrilled to see the surfer move in when he did because the bird was in crisis.

"It was either waterlogged or it was pushed in from a storm," she said. 

The wildlife expert thinks the bird was a sooty tern, which cannot survive if it gets caught in rough waters.

"They just get colder and colder, and they could get hypothermia," said Pepe-Dillon. 

The save may have been simple, but it’s a big deal on social media.

"I thought it would be seen by a few people on my Facebook list," said Terronez. "Instead, it has blown up quite a bit."

People are now trying to identify the Good Samaritan on a surfboard who took a bad situation in just a couple of minutes and made it better.

"It may only take a few seconds out of your day like this surfer, and it can have a ripple effect, you know, make a lasting impact," concluded Terronez. 

With rough seas in the forecast, we could see more distressed seabirds. Call Wild Florida Rescue’s hotline at (321) 821-7881 or another wildlife rehab if you see one stuck at sea or struggling on the shore.