A sheep trapped in a wire fence in Worcestershire has been rescued by the RSPCA.
Experienced RSPCA inspector Suzi Smith was able to free the sheep from the fence in Hanbury, near Droitwich, on Saturday (May 7).
The animal welfare charity was contacted after the sheep was found in its difficult predicament by a member of the public by a footpath near Holmes Lane.
RSPCA inspector Suzi Smith said: “This sheep was clearly distressed and just couldn’t escape the fence.
“Luckily I was able to free the sheep and she was able to return to her flock straight away as she had managed to escape injury.
“Sadly it is a common problem with sheep getting stuck in brambles or fences. It did take some time to get to the location - about an hour and a half - which could have been spent responding to another call as the farmer could have dealt with this situation.
“What we advise as a helpful solution is for farmers to put emergency contact numbers on their footpath gates so that if a walker spots a sheep or livestock in a difficult situation, they can contact the farmer directly who will be there locally to solve the problem quickly.”
The RSPCA is currently experiencing a high volume of calls, with trained call handlers rioritising emergency calls to get help as quickly as possible to animals who are most at immediate risk of extreme cruelty and neglect, and sick and injured wildlife.
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The animal welfare charity is encouraging people to only report absolute emergencies - and to check the RSPCA website, where there is information on how you can help some animals yourself.
The charity was called to Worcester city centre last week after a seagull got stuck in netting on top of a building in Broad Street.
Initial attempts by RSPCA inspectors to get to the bird were thwarted because they could not access the roof of the building.
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Eventually, firefighters used a cherry picker to rescue the gull but it later had to be put down because of its injuries.
Last year, the RSPCA received more than a million calls - one every 30 seconds. There are just 408 frontline rescuers covering the whole of England and Wales.
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