Lifeguarding isn’t always about people.
One of our lifeguards Richard Miller learned that lesson first-hand in June 2025.
While sitting on the stand looking out over the ocean near the Folly Beach Pier, he spotted an Osprey in distress. Richard paddled out, put the bird on his rescue board, and brought it back to the beach.
“Once I looked through my binoculars, I realized he was really trying to get out of the water and that something was wrong,” Miller said. “He was staring at me the entire way and I was using my training to make sure I didn’t get any waves on the way in or cause any further injury to the bird; I treated it like I was rescuing a small child.”
With an injured wing, the bird was unable to fly after it got caught up in some fishing line.
Agency staff got the bird into a shaded and safe location, then got in touch with the Center for Birds Of Prey in Awendaw.
The Center For Birds Of Prey arrived on-site and transported the bird for further evaluation and rehabilitation.
In honor of the lifeguard who brought it to shore, the lifeguard staff named the bird “Big Rich”.
Following a surgery and a long term rehabilitation stay at the Center For Birds Of Prey, Richard was there as the bird was released back into the wild two months later.
“It’s not every day that we have a lifeguard swim out and pick up an injured raptor on a surfboard and paddle it back to shore,” Center For Birds Of Prey Director Stephen Schabel said. “Very few birds would arrive at our medical facility if it weren’t for someone in the community seeing a bird in trouble and knowing they could help.”