The RSPCA has revealed its 20 wackiest animal rescues of the year – including saving a seal trapped in a treadmill and a fox stuck in a watering can.

Hilarious pictures show hapless pets and wild animals caught up in a whole variety of bizarre places before being freed by baffled rescuers.

The charity has compiled the 20 strangest rescues of 2020, with the oddest being a grey seal which had to be saved from a treadmill.

Other weird call-outs include a fox with its head stuck in a watering can, a frog wedged in a drain cover and a lamb trapped 50ft down a pipe.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: ‘More than one million calls are made to the RSPCA each year to report animals in need of help.

‘Some certainly get themselves into some surprising situations.’

In December, workers at a gym equipment warehouse in Llanelli, Wales, were stunned to find a grey seal pup in one of the treadmill machines.

RSPCA inspector Leigh Summers said: ‘It’s believed he travelled up the River Loughor before making his way into the warehouse.

‘He was sick and underweight.’

In April, a fox cub got its head wedged inside a watering can in Sevenoaks, Kent.

RSPCA officer Lynn White managed to free the stricken animal using Vaseline. She said: ‘This poor fox had probably got stuck while he was trying to get some water out of the can.

‘He was very exhausted from trying to remove it himself.

‘I wasn’t sure how best to get him out – but then I remembered I had some Vaseline in my van and so I used that on his neck and then I was able to slide him out of the can.’

In May, officers spent four hours rescuing a lost lamb after it fell 50ft down a broken manhole and into an underground pipe in a field in Durham.

RSCPA inspector Emily Welch said: ‘The farmer noticed the lamb’s mum stood at the top of the hole looking lost and he couldn’t spot her baby.

‘When he went to investigate he heard the little lamb bleating from down the drain.’

Rescuers used a digger to burrow down 15m (50ft) into the pipe before reuniting the mother with her lamb.

In October, a two-month-old cockapoo puppy got trapped inside his owner’s reclining chair in Portsmouth.

RSCPA inspector Hannah Nixon said: ‘The pup, called Pudding by his rescuers, had crawled under the sofa and got his fur caught in the mechanism when his owner unknowingly reclined the chair with him underneath.’

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service came to help to remove the electrics and cut Pudding free unharmed.

Other bizarre rescues included saving a horse which was stranded on top of a gate in Loughborough, Leics.

In April, a tawny owl was rescued from a family’s fireplace in Ewelme, Oxon.

RSPCA inspector Lauren Bailey said: ‘The family had been hearing noises from the chimney and fireplace for a few days but had no idea there was a bird trapped inside until he fell all the way to the bottom.

‘The first they realised was when they saw him peering out through the fireguard – he had his feet up against the grill like he was waving and asking for help.’

Meanwhile, a tram driver saved a newborn calf from drowning after spotting it trapped up to its neck in a bog in Rochdale in May.

Rescuers were also called to a city street in Bradford in June when baffled residents saw a goat standing at a bus stop.

RSPCA Inspector Emily Stodart said: ‘It’s certainly not something you see every day.

‘When we got there, we found he had been making his way through a few gardens before stopping at the bus stop.’

In September, a squirrel got stuck in the back of a man’s fridge in Wimbledon.

RSCPA Inspector Emily Buckett said: ‘We moved the fridge outside and unscrewed the back.

‘The squirrel was bright and uninjured, as soon as we removed the back he popped out and dashed off, very pleased to be free.’

In the same month, rescuers were called to the Wirral in Merseyside to save a frog which got its legs trapped in a drain cover.

RSCPA inspector Leanne Cragg said: ‘When I arrived, his whole body was wedged tight with his back legs stuck in the drain.

‘I’ve heard of toad in the hole – but this is my first frog in a drain.’

Firefighters were called and used hydraulic cutting equipment to free the frog.

Also in September, rescuers were called after a fox got its head stuck in a wheelchair lift in Oxford.

In November, a corn snake was found inside the pipes of a gas meter in Gosport, Hants.

Meanwhile in Goddington, Kent, rescuers were called to help a hapless badger which got its bottom wedged in a garden fence.

RSCPA Inspector Mark Miles said: ‘This poor badger was completely jammed in that fence and going nowhere.

‘It looks as if he was trying to get from one garden to the next via the hole in the fence, but had misjudged the width of his backside.’

Other hapless animal mishaps which made the list included a sheep which was trapped in a metal feeder in Richmond, Surrey, and a greedy hedgehog which got wedged in a bird feeder in Horsham, West Sussex.

RSPCA rescuers used washing liquid to free a muntjac deer from a metal gate in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, while a hedgehog was chiselled out of a tiny gap in a concrete pillar in Blackpool.

In December, a couple had a shock when they found a four-foot snake hiding inside their tumble dryer in Southport, Merseyside.

RSPCA inspector David Hatton aid: ‘I’m not sure how he managed to get into the utility rooms but was probably attracted to the warmth of the dryer.’

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