One day, homeowner Lynn Boutwell began to notice an unpleasant smell emanating from her refrigerator — an odor she described as swamp-like. Not seeing an obvious source of the smell, Boutwell was determined to get to the bottom it.
“I cleaned my fridge [and] tossed out wilted lettuce and other things. But it still smelled swampy,” Boutwell told The Dodo.
Then she noticed what appeared to be a couple of limp bean sprouts on a lower shelf in the fridge — and the truth began to unravel.
Turns out, the “bean sprouts” were actually the body of a small frog who’d somehow gotten inside the fridge, likely having stowed away on some produce.
The frog was shriveled and dehydrated from the cold, dry air inside the fridge. He hadn’t stood a chance.
Or had he?
“I was going to throw [the frog] away, but saw a faint heartbeat,” Boutwell said. “That tugged at my heartstrings.”
The lifeless-looking frog was actually still alive.
Deciding to give the frail frog a fighting chance, Boutwell set him inside a bowl with some water and a moist paper towel.
And much to her surprise, this is what happened next:
Slowly but surely, over the next several hours, the once “dead” frog returned to a healthy state.
“I was shocked the frog survived,” Boutwell said. “More shocked that [the frog] seemed to fully recover, all appendages working.”
Because the frog was so small and still somewhat bedraggled from the fridge experience, Boutwell wasn’t able to identify his species to confirm that it would be safe to release him.
But before she had the chance to figure that out for sure, the sneaky frog hopped from the bowl and out of sight.
After sharing her experience in a post online, Boutwell’s show of kindness and compassion has earned her no shortage of praise.
“What a strange and delightful story!” one commenter wrote. “Thanks for saving his life.”
