A beaver
That’s right, what Jim thought he was looking at was a beaver. But this animal was in trouble, half of its body was stuck in a large pile of mud and it was clearly fighting for its life. It didn’t know how to get out and was trying to wriggle itself free.

The strange noise was from the animal fighting against the mud that was covering its body. It was so exhausting, Jim had no idea how long it had been there and if it was going to die soon. He looked around and wondered what he could do to help this creature.