TWO surfers rescued a porpoise stranded in mud in the River Severn and drove it 130-miles in the boot of their car to release it into the sea.

Dave Butterton, 40, and Ben Rogers, 37, were surfing the Severn Bore when they heard a distressed noise coming from the river bank – and were gobsmacked when they spotted the floundering mammal.

5 Dave Butterton, 40, and Ben Rogers, 37, were surfing the Severn Bore when they heard a distressed noise coming from the river bank Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

It got beached by the outgoing tide and was in danger of a slow death miles from the open sea at Epney, Glos.

The men sprang into action and used their surfboards as a makeshift stretcher to carry the porpoise to their car where they covered it in wet towels to keep it hydrated.

Dave then set off in his Vauxhall Zafira for the 130-mile trip down the M5 to the north Devon coast where he released back into the sea at Hele beach in Ilfracombe.

5 They were gobsmacked when they spotted the floundering mammal Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

Modelmaker Ben and firefighter Dave found the distressed porpoise on Saturday night.

They were paddling into the water when they heard splashing and realised what it was.

After heaving the animal through the river and up the muddy bank, they rested it on Dave's 11ft-long surfboard and dragged it half a mile back to their car.

Ben said: "It was quite a young one, not fully grown, so it wasn't too heavy but there was still a lot of muscle there. It was probably the size of a small child.

"We had to get it up the bank through all the reeds which wasn't easy because the bank was steep and it was just the two of us.

5 It got beached by the outgoing tide and was in danger of a slow death miles from the open sea at Epney, Glos Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

"We got it up to the top in the end and put it on Dave's board and he dragged it along while I steadied it about half a mile along this footpath.

“It was so tired it just sat there." Ben, of Bristol, added: "We are both nature people and we love the river.

"The porpoise was so young and not injured. We just couldn't leave the poor thing there like that." The pair decided that Dave, who lives in Ilfracombe would drive the porpoise back home with him that night and release it into the sea.

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So they wrapped it in blankets and a wet towel and popped it in the boot of Dave's car - where it stayed for two and a half hours.

He made a couple of stops along the way to check on the porpoise and make sure it was kept wet.

He then stopped by his house to pick up his partner, Mary Taylor, 48, and their two sons, Jamie, 12, and Tommy, ten, before driving to Hele Bay beach.

It was there that the porpoise was set free at around 11pm.

5

Mary, an artist, said: "We drove right up to the edge of the beach so we wouldn't have to carry it too far.

"Jamie and Dave carried it across the beach and into the sea. They went in about waist deep.

"It lay still for a moment and then suddenly leaped into life and swam away.

"We were hoping it would give a little jump out like Free Willy and it didn't but it was an amazing sense of satisfaction.

5 Porpoises live in shallow waters and prefer bays and harbours Credit: Alamy

"It swam away very happily." Dave added: “It was pretty inevitable that she would get stranded on the next low tide and the next until exhausted she would have passed away.

"More dead porpoises are found in Gloucestershire than live ones." He said he was "so stoked when she swam away", adding: “She seemed a bit dopey at first when I got her into the water, had to kind of hold her up for a bit.

"Then suddenly it was like she realised where she was and she just came back to life... and away she went.”