In 2022, RSPCA officers were called to thousands of incidents - in many in which birds, wildlife, pets and farm animals found themselves in a sticky situation.
RSPCA Inspectorate Commissioner, Dermot Murphy, from the animal charity’s frontline rescuers, said: “With our teams out rescuing animals from danger and suffering 365 days a year, we are often their only hope.
"It’s an honour to be able to lend a hand to animals in desperate need, and we hope people enjoy seeing some of the weird and wonderful places animals have found themselves in need of our help. This winter we’re asking people to show their support by joining the rescue to help us raise funds to make sure we can continue to be there for animals in need.”
Read more: Pony 'dumped like rubbish' is now horsing around with a toy pal this Christmas
Here, Chronicle Live rounds-up some of the RSPCA's weirdest rescues from across the North this year.
RSPCA rescuers dismantled a dry stone wall to free a cat who appeared to be trapped inside. A dog walker spotted the black and white cat squeezed in a small gap in between the stones in a field near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on 23 January.
Inspector Ruth Thomas-Coxon said: “It was an unusual call-out and the poor puss was very frightened and a little aggressive. Initially it looked as though he’d chosen to tuck himself inside the gap but he didn’t try to run away when we got closer so I was concerned he may have been injured or sick.”
The land owner helped to dismantle the wall and free the cat, who was taken to be checked over by vets before going to a rehoming centre so staff could try to trace his owners.
Elsewhere, a sheep needed a helping hand after getting stuck between the bars of a metal field feeding station. Rescuer Helen Chapman was called to a field in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, on 27 June after the stricken sheep was spotted by a walker.
Helen said: “This sheep appears to have been carrying a little too much weight and got wedged between the bars of the field shelter! The metal structure is designed to allow the lambs and young sheep inside to reach supplementary food while keeping the adults out.
"But this greedy ewe decided to push her luck and try to get the extra feed, getting her back end stuck outside the bars!”
Helen was able to unscrew a mechanism and widen the gaps to free her and she ran back to the flock.
In Rotherham, a hedgehog needed a helping hand after getting into a prickle - wedged between the bars of a metal gate. RSPCA rescuer inspector Jack Taylor was called to Bramley, South Yorkshire, on 26 June.
He said: “The podgy little porker had tried to push through the metal bars of a garden gate and got himself well and truly stuck! Our call-taker who logged the report from the member of the public who found the little hedgehog aptly named him ‘wedgehog’ when they tasked me the job!”
Jack managed to carefully push him backwards out of the railings and wasn’t injured so scurried back into the bushes.
A badger who got stuck in a skip needed help to get back to the wild. RSPCA rescuer Laura Barber was called to Cawood, in North Yorkshire, on 22 April after the badger was found in a skip at a commercial site.
Laura said: “The badger was unable to get out and was cowering in the corner and clearly distressed. He must have got in to search for food but with the steep sides couldn’t get back out.”
Thankfully she was able to easily reach him with her special reach-and- rescue pole, pull him out and release him in a meadow nearby.
In Sunderland, a gull left hanging upside-down from a telephone line had to be zip-wired to freedom. The poor bird’s feet had been pierced by a fishing lure which then snagged onto the wire while he was flying leaving him in a precarious position suspended 30ft above a car park on 30 April.
RSPCA Inspector Kirsty Keogh-Laws enlisted the help of firefighters to use a throw line and pull the bird to the nearest telegraph pole where a rescuer was waiting at the top of a ladder to bring him to safety. Fortunately, the bird had only a small wound so was taken for rehabilitation to be released at a later date.
Kirsty said: “It was one of the most bizarre rescues I’ve seen! When I first saw him he was flapping around and obviously in pain, but thankfully there was nothing broken and he had movement in both legs!”
Sheffield saw rescuers have to dismantle a wall to reach an elderly cat, who got stuck in a 2in gap between two properties in Handsworth. Fifteen-year-old puss Cassie got lodged between the two houses on 11 June and neighbour Mick Glossop heard her meows and alerted owners, Anna and Alex Emmett.
They called the RSPCA when they realised she couldn’t move and inspector Kim Greaves came to help. Mick and another neighbour, both with building backgrounds, began to dismantle the wall and Kim was able to pull her free.
Anna said: “We are not sure why Cassie chose to go down such a tight gap but we have now blocked it up. We are just very grateful that our neighbours and the RSPCA were able to free her - they were all great and because of their help she escaped unscathed.”
A woman had a fright after finding a corn snake in the drainpipe of her Merseyside home. Local police were called to the home in Birkenhead on 2 July before RSPCA rescuer Anthony Joynes was called to assist.
The brightly-coloured snake was taken in by a local exotics rescue centre for care; it’s believed he may have been abandoned or escaped from his home. Anthony said: “The lady who found the snake didn’t know whether he was venomous so she rang the police, who contacted me.
"He was quite a size and that must have been a shock for the woman who was pottering around in her garden when she noticed something under the drainpipe!” The snake was found to have suffered a fractured rib so it’s believed he may have been run over by a car or motorbike.
A lamb found himself up to his neck in it - literally - after getting stuck in a muddy pond. Rescuers from the RSPCA and Cleveland Fire and Rescue Service rushed to help the stricken sheep in the dried-up water course on farmland in Marton, near Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, on 7 August, after a dog walker raised the alarm.
The young sheep was struggling to keep his head above the mud as Inspector Steph Baines and the fire crews launched a raft to reach him and pull him to safety. Steph said: “As soon as we got him to dry land I got him into the kennel; he didn’t put up much of a fight, the poor thing, as he was shattered!”
A vet came to check him before he was released to re-join his flock and Steph spoke to the farmer to get the dangerous area of mud fenced off.
Quick-thinking RSPCA officers used BBQ tongs to carefully free a hedgehog from a drain! Rescuers Laura Barber and Gary Cotton were called to Hull, East Yorkshire, on 17 August after a member of the public spotted the hedgehog stuck down a train.
Gary explained: “It was great teamwork which enabled us to successfully rescue the hedgehog. It involved a little bit of gentle persuasion and the use of some BBQ tongs to carefully ease him out of the drain.
"We checked him over but thankfully he wasn’t injured so he could then be released back into the wild later that day. The open drain has also been reported to the council to ensure this doesn’t happen to any other animals.”
Near Scarborough, a hedgehog needed a helping hand after tumbling 25ft into an historic ice house on The Dawnay Estates, North Yorkshire. Inspector Thomas Hutton was called to help a fire and rescue service crew help the little critter on 9 September.
He said: “The deep well was dug and used to store ice during the summer in the 1800s and, while no longer used, has been preserved for visitors. This little visitor, however, couldn’t get back out after falling into the ice house so we had to clamber down to rescue him.
"Thankfully he wasn’t injured but we took him to a local wildlife rescuer for check-ups before he could be released.”
RSPCA officers also came to the rescue of a little finch who moved into a Next store in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear, and took up residency among the Christmas displays.
Rescuers Rachael Hurst and Lucy Green were called after the bird flew in through an open window on 13 November and, initially, became trapped in a gap between the store’s glass frontage and an internal wall, straddling across several floors, before perching on top of a Christmas tree.
Rachael said: “She just couldn’t fly back out and was flitting around the displays over three floors. No doubt the bright decorations in the Christmas displays attracted her and at one stage she’d landed on top of a tree and seemed very happy to stay there too.
"Finally we caught her [on 15 November] behind some men's coats on the top floor, but we had to move pretty swiftly. Fortunately, she was unharmed, so we took her straight outside and released her near an area where there were a couple of trees.”
The animal welfare charity is asking people to show their support for animals in need by joining the rescue this winter. For more information, see the RSPCA website
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