Denver, Colorado - Two mountain lion cubs got stuck in a dam's overflow spillway just before it was scheduled to be flooded. Luckily, the young animals were spotted in the nick of time.

Pine River Irrigation District (PRID) dam tender Mike Canterbury noticed the two cubs in the spillway right before the dam that forms the Vallecito Reservoir near Durango, Colorado, was set to be opened on Friday.

Canterbury quickly informed the PRID superintendent, Ken Beck, and got the release of water postponed. He then notified Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), per the organization's X post.

The walls were too high for the young cats to climb, and if the water had been released, they would have likely drowned, the CPW added.

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When Wildlife Officer Ty Smith got to the scene, he threw a rope into the spillway near the cubs.

Amazingly, one mountain lion latched on and allowed him to lift it out of harm's way. Once the cub was safe, it ran right into the woods.

The officers even caught the dramatic rescue on camera, and viral footage shows the big cat clinging to the rope as it's pulled from the spillway.

Unfortunately, the other cub wasn't interested in playing with the string and ran further down the spillway, so Smith ended up climbing in himself!

Following "a brief standoff," Smith finally got the mountain lion interested in the rope.

Other officers then caught the distracted cat and lifted it to safety.

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Unlike its sibling, the cougar didn't sprint into the woods. It hid under the officer's vehicle until the commotion died down, then ran off in the same direction as its sibling.

Thanks to the observant PRID workers and CPW's quick and smart rescue, these two wild cats came out unharmed!