Teams in action for 51 Shropshire animal rescues
Shropshire’s fire brigade rescued an impaled cat from a cemetery fence, a deer with antlers trapped in netting and a dog whose head got stuck in a stone wall this year.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 51 animal incidents between December 2019 and November 2020.
Dogs accounted for 11 of these, followed by horses, with 10, and eight for cows or bulls.
Call logs, released under the 2000 Freedom of Information Act, report that the male cat was released from the four-foot metal fence at Newport Cemetery then handed over to a vet on the evening of October 7.
Horse-related calls included one from Hampton Wood, Ellesmere, where a blind horse fell into a pond and died shortly after, while a cow who got stuck in canal mud at St Martins, Oswestry, was one of eight incidents involving cows in the 12-month period.
An “incident description” logged by brigade call-handlers on May 18, describes a “dog with head stuck between two stones” in Shrewsbury.
The “stop message”, indicating to the control centre that the incident was over, was sent an hour later and said: “Labrador puppy rescued from sandstone wall using small gear”.
The Shropshire Star reported on the incident at the time, with the fire crew coming to the aid of Ruby, who got stuck near Hook-a-Gate while out on a walk.
Another call, received on November 27 from Ercall Wood Quarry, near Little Wenlock, said a live deer was trapped in netting.
This was resolved 90 minutes later, with crews telling control “deer has been released under supervision of wildlife expert”, and is the only deer-related incident recorded.
Other cat rescues included a kitten who released “alive, breathing and in good condition” after becoming stuck between a kitchen cupboard and a wall in Dorrington on November 15 and an adult feline who climbed in to a car engine cavity “and is now jammed in a dent caused by a previous collision” in Trench.
After being released the cat “appeared to be uninjured and has now scarpered”, the stop message reported.
Dog incidents included a 23-kilogram Hungarian Vizsla who, on the morning of July 26 in Grinshill, became stuck up an eight-foot tree, but “self-rescued” after firefighters arrived and pitched a ladder, and a canine who got locked in a car, along with the keys, in Stirchley on September 17.
The disabled owner was “unable to assist the dog herself”, the log says, so a fire crew freed the dog.
A rescue in Gobowen on June 1, when 30 cattle became stuck in slurry on a farm, was the incident that involved the largest number of animals.
Harnesses and ropes had to be used to rescue 20 of the bovines before the animals were returned to the farmer.
