A freshman college student is being hailed as a hero after she rescued a drowning squirrel from a campus pond last week.

Natalie Belsito of Central Michigan University in Grand Rapids was spending time in her friend's dorm when a student alerted them to a squirrel who had fallen into a nearby pond.

"It definitely was drowning because it was really slow when we saw it and it started to dip its head under the water," Belsito told CM Life.

Thanks to the help of a nearby pedestrian, they rescued the squirrel from the chilly waters. Belsito's friends then fetched towels from the dorm so she could perform CPR on the squirrel.

Even though Belsito had never performed CPR before, she said that she was able to resuscitate the squirrel by recalling a scene from a season 5 episode of the popular television show "The Office".

The student then brought the squirrel back to the dorm, filled up a box with bags of hot water, placed a towel over the bags, and laid the squirrel on top of the towel. With blowdryer in hand, Belsito spent the next two hours ensuring that the squirrel was warm and dry after its dip in the pond.

"He started to calm down and was breathing normally and wasn't twitching anymore," Belsito said.

Belsito allowed the squirrel sufficient time to calm down from the blowdryer before bringing it back outside to set it free. When the critter leapt free of its box and raced up a nearby tree, Belsito and her soccer teammates let out a cheer of excitement.

Click To Share The Rescue Story With Your Friends (Photo by Natalie Belsito)