This is the moment a kindhearted kayaker ferries two large eagles to shore after finding them stranded and exhausted in the middle of the Danube River.

The incident was filmed in the south-western Romanian county of Mehedinti and the footage has been widely shared on Facebook by the group ‘Endurance Missions by Kayakcrazyric’.

The group said: “They were stuck together. Probably still fighting in water? We had to be very careful. They are predators with very big claws. If they grab us during rescue, we could need rescue also (the kayak got deep scratches).

“We tried first with rope. Not really successful. Than we tried to paddle in front of them and let them climb on deck alone. This worked. They just couldn’t wait to reach the shore, they wanted to fly too much early.”

The footage shows the kayaker coming across the two “stuck” white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Danube River.

One man paddles close to the birds so he can ferry them back to shore on the front of the kayak in turn.

The eager eagles are seen trying to fly to shore too early and needing to rest on the front of the kayak again until it draws closer.

Both eagles successfully made it to land and soon flew away, according to the helpful kayaker and his pal, identified as Richard J. Varga and Klaudia Kis.

Kayak renter Calin Ene said: “Not many people can tell such a story. From my point of view, they saved two birds of prey from a situation that had a 70 to 80 percent chance of killing them. It says a lot about the kind of people kayakers are and especially those two in the video.”