A South African man took pity on a civet cat caught in a barbed-wire fence and risked a nasty bite to free the stricken animal.

Touching footage captured near Alldays shows Anthony Peniston patiently pacifying the wounded creature and then disentangling it.

"I was on the way to our closest town for a meeting when I saw this civet cat badly tangled up in a barbed-wire fence," said Peniston.

Peniston happens to be a wildlife rescue specialist and even though he wasn't prepared or dressed properly to help out the animal in peril, he decided to take his chances despite the risk of the civet biting or hurting him looming large.

"There was no way to get a veterinarian to help as the closest one was over 2 hours' drive away," he said.

"Also, I couldn’t simply cut the wires as it would have resulted in the cat running off with the wires still stuck into it and it could have died," Peniston added.

The heroic act was caught on camera by Peniston's wife, Emma, on May 1 2020.

'Inspirational footage emanating from Alldays, South Africa shows a man going out of his way to rescue a wild civet cat.

Filmed by Emma Peniston, this video features the filmer's husband, Anthony Peniston proving that heroes do exist in real life.

Anthony commented: "I was on the way to our closest town for a meeting when I saw this civet cat badly tangled up in a barbed-wire fence."

Anthony happens to be a wildlife rescue specialist and even though he wasn't prepared or dressed properly to help out the animal in peril, he decided to take his chances despite the risk of the civet biting or hurting him looming large.

He added: "There was no way to get a veterinarian to help as the closest one was over 2 hours' drive away. Also, I couldn’t simply cut the wires as it would have resulted in the cat running off with the wires still stuck into it and it could have died."

Eventually, Anthony was able to pacify the civet and free it properly. It ran off with no wires attached and possibly made a full recovery.

This heroic act was caught on camera on May 1, 2020.

Name: Emma Peniston
Location: Alldays, South Africa'