West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s Technical Rescue Unit (TRU) have had to draw on their wide range of rescue techniques to help two animals who found themselves a bit out of their depth in the last few days.
In the first incident the team was alerted after the RSPCA had received reports of a heron tangled in fishing line and suspended about 20ft up a tree in the middle of the island at the lake in Broadfield Park, Crawley.
The TRU used a rescue raft to access the island and then carried out a rope rescue alongside the tree to cut the heron free. The heron didn’t seem any worse for wear from its ordeal and flew off.
In the second incident the team was called to reports of a deer in a private swimming pool in Funtington near Chichester. The deer had wandered onto the pool cover which started to sink down under its weight and it was unable to get out of the pool.
Crew Commander of the TRU Charlotte Eastwell said: “The call came in shortly after 5.30am alerting us that a deer had managed to get stuck in someone’s swimming pool. It wasn’t quite what I expected to wake up to on a Sunday morning!
“When we arrived, the deer was sat in the middle of the pool, partially submerged but able to keep its head above the water thanks to the cover which was keeping it fairly buoyant.
“We used two restraints that we would normally use when rescuing larger dogs to keep the deer under control while we brought it back to safety on dry land. After a couple of minutes, it regained its composure and was back on its feet and disappeared off into the fields.
“If people spot an animal in danger, we would always encourage them to call the RSPCA and not to put themselves in danger and attempt a rescue themselves. Now, more than ever, that would put further pressure on the emergency services who would have two casualties to rescue, instead of one.”
The two rescues came during the week when the TRU were raising awareness of the importance of water safety, as part of a nationwide campaign on the dangers of open water alongside fire and rescue services across the country.
