Animal rescue figures revealed
FIREFIGHTERS IN FURRY CALL-OUTS
CATS stuck in trees are just some of the animals who need to be rescued by firefighters, as new figures show.
A goat trapped on a river island and dogs stuck inside Berwick’s town walls are among the hundreds of animal rescues which have taken place in the last few years.
Firefighters in the North East have rescued animals from perilous situations more than 1,300 times since 2010 – with cats, dogs, horses, birds and more getting into trouble.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information act show crews from County Durham and Darling- ton have responded to 414 call-outs involving animals between 2010 and the first quarter of 2017, while crews in Northumberland have been to 157, and crews in Tyne and Wear have been to 746.
Last year, crews in County Durham and Darlington were called to 44 animal rescues, Northumberland were called to 21 and there were 120 in Tyne and Wear.
Cats are the most likely animal to need rescuing, with 57 cats saved in 2016, followed by 49 dogs and 45 birds.
Since 2010, firefighters have been called upon to rescue cats from trees at least 65 times – including a cat that got stuck up a tree for a week in Consett in October 2014.
Among the more unusual rescues recorded was a cat removed from an extractor fan at a pizza shop in Darlington in December 2016; a dog stuck in a bonfire structure in Spennymoor in October 2014; a cat trapped in a bicycle chain in Darlington in December 2014; and a chameleon on a roof in Blyth in September 2014.
A puppy with a hard plastic ring around its neck had to be released in
Darlington in November 2014, while a cat managed to get its neck trapped in the collar of a thick glass vase, and a goat had to be rescued from an island in the middle of a river in Darlington in April 2016.
A dog in Berwick had to be rescued from the locked areas within the town walls in May 2015, while another dog had to be rescued in August 2015 after falling from the town walls into a walled bastion.
In Ryhope in Sunderland, firefighters were called out to help a dog stuck in nettles in June 2016, and had to rescue a cat from a clothing bank
in Walker in Newcastle in October 2016.
Kittens with their heads stuck in a grill pan wire mesh needed rescuing in both Saltwell in Gateshead in June 2016 and Hendon in Sunderland in November 2016, while another with its leg trapped in a blind needed help in Valley in North Tyneside in July 2016.
Earlier this year, we reported that a 12-week-old kitten who was trapped inside a wall for three days was freed by firefighters in Durham.
Firefighters also came to the rescue of an adventurous dog which had climbed onto a roof in Newcastle in September last year.
Kain, a 14-week-old Akita pup, climbed out a loft window of a house in Walker then slipped and fell, with only the chimney breast stopping his fall from the nine-metre-high roof.
Crews from Byker Community Fire Station attended and the firefighters used two ladders to reach the roof and carried the dog to safety after luring him with treats.
A spokesperson from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue service said: “While animal rescues are only a very small percentage of our work – less than 0.8% of all the incidents we attended during 2016 – they do contribute to the wider safety of our communities.
“In many animal rescue situations, by attending the incident we help to ensure that a greater risk does not occur. This could be a member of the public who may try to rescue the animal but puts themselves at risk.”