‘Uncooperative’ squirrel stuck in manhole cover freed by firefighters in Germany

It took several attempts for a crew of firefighters to free the squirrel, who appeared largely unharmed.
The squirrel’s head and two front legs were trapped above the manhole cover (Feuerwehr Dortmund)
Harry Stedman11 April 2023

A red squirrel that became trapped in a manhole cover has been freed by firefighters in Germany, despite being “uncooperative” during its rescue.

The city fire department in Dortmund was alerted to the trapped animal by a pedestrian on Monday afternoon, after she spotted its head poking out in the road.

The squirrel was covered with a scarf to calm it down until a crew of firefighters arrived at the scene.

However, the rodent did not make life easy for the crew as they carefully tried to separate it from the plate.

“This turned out to be quite complicated as the squirrel was uncooperative,” the fire department said.

It took several attempts for the crew to free the squirrel before it fled up a nearby tree, appearing unharmed.

A similar rescue was required in the same city back in 2019, when firefighters, police and a veterinary clinic saved a red squirrel that got its head stuck in a manhole cover.

In a statement, the fire department said: “It could not be determined if it was the same squirrel that had to be rescued from the same situation four years ago.”

Red squirrels can be found across Europe and Asia and are thought to have lived in the UK for around 10,000 years, according to the Wildlife Trusts.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in