This social media user from Chicago took a wildlife shot with a difference. However, he was then blown away as the online community went wild for his work.

What one man had captured on film on the suburban streets of Chicago was, by all accounts, utterly bizarre. The subject of the picture was a young boy – not, by himself, a particularly unusual child. Rather, it was who he had been photographed with that marked him out: right next to the kid was a wild animal. And when the story of the bond between the boy and the beast reached the internet, it totally blew up.

‏

The boy pictured in the post turned out to be a ten-year-old from the residential suburbs of Chicago. And on one day in 2015, he was doing something so kindhearted for his companion that someone watching on couldn’t help but record it for posterity.

That someone was Reddit user “bluecollarclassicist,” who had been strolling through his local area with his wife early one morning. Having spotted some unusual behavior for a few days in a row, the couple were hoping to come across it again. And as it happens, they were not to be disappointed.

Specifically, the pair saw the boy walking down the residential street in tandem with a female deer. The Reddit user then took a photograph of the scene – from behind, to protect the boy’s anonymity and so as not to scare his skittish pal. And after bluecollarclassicist had uploaded the picture to Reddit, it turned out to be unlike anything the community had ever seen before. But there was far more to the story than just that.

Indeed, the wild animal was no normal deer; bluecollarclassicist found out that the animal was blind. And after talking to the boy‪,‬ he discovered the reason why the child was walking down the street with the doe‪.‬ The Reddit user accompanied his snap of the pair with that information,‬ and it understandably made the online community very emotional‪.‬

In particular, the seeing-eye boy was making sure that the blind deer was safe on the Chicago streets. And, extraordinarily, he wasn’t simply taking the animal for a stroll. Instead, the child was leading the disabled and vulnerable doe to grassy areas where it could find food.

Perhaps the most touching part of the story, though, is that the boy had been doing this each day before he attended school. And bluecollarclassicist remarked on the kid’s calm and kind nature with the deer on Reddit. To wit, he revealed that the child was “very gentle and quiet” as he guided the blind animal with “his hand on her neck.”

And as soon as the amazing photo of the boy leading the blind deer down the road hit the internet, the online community practically went crazy for it. More than a thousand Reddit users commented on the photograph, in fact.

What’s more, the post eventually received more than 45,000 Reddit “upvotes.” And the comments under the picture were often incredulous ones; people just could not believe the selfless, conscientious and patient behavior of the child.

One Reddit user wrote, for instance, “I’m speechless. That’s so sweet of the boy! I’m surprised the deer trusts someone enough to allow it!” Another said, “This young man has a big heart, and it’s nice that he is being recognized for it. It really is very sweet.”

In fact, most comments were straightforward messages of gratitude to the young boy for taking the time out of his day to help a vulnerable animal. But one Redditor professed to be more confused than anything else, joking, “How does one casually develop relationships with wild animals like this… I need answers.”

Then as bluecollarclassicist’s picture story gathered momentum, it began to attract interest from further online media outlets. Those on Reddit, however, were concerned about the future for the disadvantaged deer now that her story had been brought to such attention. But the original poster acted as somewhat of a press agent for the boy and doe over the following few weeks, leaving comments on his post that gave developments on the story.

He told Redditors, for instance, that expert assistance was on its way; his wife had called a local wildlife rescue group to come and help the deer. The couple then expected the animal to be taken to a nearby forest preserve where the doe would obviously be much safer. But bluecollarclassicist also expressed concern over the young boy’s feelings.

“I wish I could do something for the kid. He’s probably going to miss her,” bluecollarclassicist wrote. But, as it turned out, there was little need for him to have been too worried about the kid’s reaction. A Reddit update a few months later revealed that the deer had indeed been taken away by authorities to a safer place, but the schoolboy hadn’t been too distraught about it.

Image: VITALIY ANOKHIN — Image: Vitality Anokhin

“His concern was very mature,” bluecollarclassicist said on Reddit about the boy’s response. “He had only been walking the deer for a few days and hadn’t named her or tried to claim her as a pet or anything like that… He just wanted her to be okay and was relieved to know she would be safe.”

So, as the vulnerable deer had been rescued from suburban Chicago, the forum turned its attention to something new. Some users mooted the idea of rewarding the young boy for his act of kindness, for instance. “Awesome. If you decide to buy the lil fella something, I’d really like to pitch in a few bucks to contribute,” a kind and thoughtful stranger wrote.

But it emerged that bluecollarclassicist was way ahead of the pack on this one. He wrote on Reddit that he and his wife were so impressed with the love and respect that the child showed towards the blind animal that they wanted to reward the boy themselves. In fact, bluecollarclassicist had already been talking to the kid’s mom about a couple of possibilities.

Firstly, bluecollarclassicist and his wife had offered to take the schoolboy off to the local wildlife preserve whenever he wanted – although they could not guarantee that that had been where the doe had ended up. But there was also something else that they wanted to do for the kid. Namely, the couple decided that they would print off the photograph that had gone viral online and frame it for him as a memory.

However, some Reddit users suggested that all bluecollarclassicist needed to do was show the child the post and comments underneath. They argued that, this way, the kid could see for himself how many people were thankful for his altruistic actions. One person even went as far as describing the schoolboy as their “personal hero” for what he had done.

‏“Deer is safe. Boy is happy. Everyone is relieved,” bluecollarclassicist wrote. And what’s more‪,‬ his story of the boy and the beast led him to receiving his first Reddit gold‪.‬ This badge of honor is awarded to users who contribute strong stories that inspire others or spark interesting conversation – and it’s fair to say that the original poster had certainly achieved that.