London Fire Brigade's most bizarre animal callouts of this year have been revealed.
Among their 278 animal callouts, firefighters were sent to deal with an owl trapped in a tree, a snake loose in a flat, a chicken stuck in a tree and a squirrel trapped in a wall.
But animal-related callouts are down by 20 per cent in the last five years since a campaign to reduce them was launched.
The brigade has been criticised for wasting resources on unnecessary callouts including using two fire engines and spending three hours rescuing a fox stuck on a mud bank on the Thames last month, costing nearly £2,000.
Whenever the LFB attend an incident, it costs around £246 per hour per fire engine.
This year, the brigade has attended an animal callout 10 times a week, at a cost of around £16,500 a month to the taxpayer.
TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign manager Harry Davis said: “It is difficult to regard being called out every 16 hours to rescue household pets as anything other than wasteful.
“We constantly hear from the Fire Brigade Union that budget cuts will lead to death and destruction but they seem to have plenty of time to rescue chickens from trees.
“Budgets are tight in all areas of the public sector and in future they need to make sure they are using the resources to maximum efficiency.”
More than half of the animal rescues the brigade are called to involve cats, but this year they have also attended rescues involving pigeons, seagulls, squirrels and a dove.
Vermin seen around London
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “There is still a lot to do to dispel the old stereotype about firefighters rescuing cats from trees.
“If there is a cat up a tree, or an animal stuck anywhere, the first port of call should always be the RSPCA, not the emergency services.
“Pet owners need to keep a close eye on their animals in a bid to avoid some of these situations happening. What’s worrying is that when firefighters are out rescuing animals, they’re not available to attend real emergencies.”
