The RSPCA has shared its three best animal rescues that it conducted in Wales this year.
RSPCA Chief Inspectorate Officer Steve Bennett said: “For 200 years the RSPCA’s dedicated and passionate team of rescuers have been helping animals in need.
“If we all work together, we can create a kinder and better world for all animals.”
The RSPCA carries out a lot of rescues every year. Here are its three best from 2024.
A badger cub was rescued by a brave RSPCA rescuer after tumbling down a beach cliff at a rural cove off the Pembrokeshire Coast Path near Porthlysgi Beach, St Davids, in Pembrokeshire.
The cub was frightened when Inspector Keith Hogben went to help on 20 April.
He said: “There are many badger setts on the coastal path, so he must have fallen over the cliff onto the beach. Luckily he was spotted and we were able to find him amongst the rocks and able to get to him before anything happened to him. He would have been very vulnerable out in the open and in the daylight.”
The badger was cared for and released on April 22 back at the sett.
The next rescue was a crow, which got tangled on an aerial after becoming caught up in a plastic bag. Officers from RSPCA Cymru went to help the stricken bird who was spotted in distress on 1 June in Swansea.
RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer Ellie West and a crew from Mid and West Fire & Rescue Service went to help. Ms West said the crew used an aerial platform to reach the bird who was trapped two storeys high.
She added: “The crow had a plastic bag wrapped around its left leg and when trying to escape he had become even more entangled. His left leg had a wound, but he was thankfully in a good body condition and was active despite his ordeal.”
He received some treatment before being released back into the wild the following day.
The next rescue was two ducks entangled in fishing line have been released following a joint rescue operation by the RSPCA and fire service at the Cleddau River.
Again Ms West was called to attend to the two male mallards on 28 September as they had become entangled in line on the river in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
Due to the tide, she contacted Mid and West Wales Fire and Service for help.
Ms West said: “The crew were able to walk out to the ducks in their dry suits and use my nets to contain the mallards and then walk them back to dry land and meet me.”
The ducks were badly entangled with line around their legs so Ms West’s colleague, Inspector Keith Hogben, came to help and they managed to cut the line. Sadly, one of the ducks had suffered serious injuries to his leg, which had cut down to the bone, and his wing, so he had to be put to sleep.