Rescue for lamb in drainpipe
A LAMB was reunited with his mum four hours after he fell 2ft down a drainpipe in Durham and had to be dug out with a digger.
The fire service and the RSPCA had to dig out the little animal after the farmer heard it bleating down a drain.
He first noticed that something was wrong when one of his sheep looked lost and he couldn’t spot her baby anywhere in the field just off Thornley Road, Durham.
And, after investigating further, he heard the little lamb bleating from down the drain and rang County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service immediately.
RSPCA animal collection officer Emily Welch was called to the scene by the fire service to help free the lamb.
She said: “There was a broken manhole cover on the farmland which had been filled with tyres and wood. Somehow the lamb had managed to get himself between this and had fallen down the manhole shaft and into the narrow drainage pipe 2ft below.
“There was no way of reaching the little lamb in the pipe as it was too narrow so we had to dig down to him.”
They dug four different holes and managed to find the cold and shaken lamb.
Emily added: “Thankfully the farmer’s friend brought his digger and we started digging.
“We ended up having to dig four separate holes to different sections of the pipe before we could locate him 15m into the pipe and free him.
“He was very cold, a little shaken and quite stiff after his ordeal but, thankfully, he wasn’t injured so we cleaned him up and returned him to his mum. It was lovely to see him bounding off towards his mum and snuggling up to her for some milk.”