This is the incredible moment a man frees a young donkey from a metal fence after it accidentally got its neck trapped in the wire.

The unnamed rescuer reportedly came across the wild foal in need while walking up a mountain in north-western China’s Qinghai Province, spread across the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau.

Phone footage – shared later on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok – shows the donkey helplessly kicking with its front legs in the air with its neck caught in a wire.

A man is then seen approaching the animal and gently grabbing its head, then carefully removing the wire.

In a matter of seconds, he manages to free the donkey before it suffocates.

He then moves the donkey to an open area and releases it.

The rescue video attracted widespread attention on Douyin, with some users praising the man’s kindness and others jokingly commenting that the donkey is indeed stubborn and could have simply moved backwards to get free.

One user titled ‘noodles too thin’ said: “These wire fences are a nightmare for wild animals, thanks to the kind people for the rescue.”

While user ‘wrapped in cold skin’ wrote: “So is the iron fence really protecting the ecological environment?”

And ‘Pinggu Back Garden B&B’ commented: “I finally know why the traditional saying is ‘stubborn donkey’ and not ‘stubborn bull’ or ‘stubborn horse’.”