A PYTHON, two iguanas and a chicken were some of the wackier creatures rescued by Cornwall’s firefighters over the last three years.
The county’s crews were called out to 340 animal rescues since 2010, at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £200,000.
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A python, similar to this one, was one of hundreds of animals rescued by Cornwall’s firefighters since 2010
Teams rescued 84 seagulls, 79 dogs, 58 cats, 43 horses and 29 cows, according to statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act.
In 2010, five firefighters spent almost an hour coaxing a python – a non-venomous constrictor snake – from underneath a garden shed.
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And earlier this year, three men were needed to rescue a pair of iguanas that had become stuck in a chimney.
Andy Barrett, an area manager for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said: “I’m sure a few eyebrows were raised when those calls came in.”
He said the fire service had a duty to carry out non-fire related ‘special service calls’, which included supporting the RSPCA in rescuing animals when specialist equipment and expertise were needed.
Mr Barrett added: “Animal rescues have always been an important part of the role of the fire service, especially here in Cornwall with our large farming community. We get a lot of animals stuck in bogs or down mineshafts, which can be very challenging situations to deal with.
“What we don’t want, and what might happen if we didn’t attend these incidents, is members of the public taking pity on these animals and putting themselves in danger to try and rescue them.”
The cost of sending out a ‘major appliance’ to an incident is around £300 per hour. A total of 726 appliances were needed to tackle the 340 rescues.
On one occasion, six crew members spent almost 16 hours rescuing a seagull that had become tangled in roof netting, while another incident saw a single firefighter spend more than 12 hours trying to save a dog stuck in a rabbit warren.
The costliest call-out entailed 30 firefighters from 10 appliances rescuing four bulls and a calf from a dangerous slurry pit. The job would likely have cost up to £3,000.
Mr Barrett said: “We’re lucky we have a lot of expertise in Cornwall, as a lot of our on-call firefighters are farmers themselves. We have a wide spectrum of skills and knowledge, which is needed in these situations.”
Some of the stranger animal rescues include a squirrel stuck on top of a telegraph pole, a chicken wedged between two houses, and a hedgehog trapped down a drain.
Last year several fire services nationwide considered charging for non-emergency call-outs, although there are currently no plans to do so in Cornwall.