Rescuing an Exhausted Armadillo from Drowning

We were paddleboarding on the Intracoastal Waterway near St. Augustine, Florida, and saw something in the water. The object we saw in the water started to swim towards us and was struggling in the strong current. We realized it was an armadillo and he was swimming towards our paddleboards. The armadillo was really struggling to stay afloat and starting to give up. We knew we had to save him and were able to use our paddles to get him on a life jacket and pull him onto one of our paddleboards. He was exhausted and stayed in the same spot the entire paddle to shore. We carried him on the paddleboard to a shady and safe location where he could rest and recover after his ordeal.