Firefighters Free Deer From 10-Inch Space Between Walls

Firefighters Free Deer From 10-Inch Space Between Walls

Facebook / Oakland Fire Department

Firefighters are known for saving an animal or two from burning buildings and from wildfires, but they also recently came to the aid of a wild animal that found itself in a sticky situation.

In a post on their Facebook page, the Oakland Fire Department shared a video of a recent deer rescue. There were no flames to be seen, only a tiny space between walls… and a deer wedged between them.

According to the post, a neighbor of Oakland Fire Station 6 had stopped by to let fire crews know that, during their morning walk, they’d seen a deer stuck between a garage and a house. When firefighters responded, they found the deer upside down, wedged in a space only about 10 inches wide.

With such a tricky rescue ahead of them, they called for backup firefighters and then got to work together on freeing the trapped animal.

The post says - and the video shows - that they started by tying her legs so they could hoist her up, turn her around, and get her right side up. From there, it was easier to get her out, and they managed to pull her lose. To ensure the rescue left her no worse for the wear and that she didn’t have to deal with more stress stemming from the ordeal, though, they also had to remove the ropes before setting her free.

The video shows the moment the firefighters let her go after disentangling her. She sprinted off in the distance, hopefully to wider areas.

The department lauded all the community members who came to her aid, writing, “In total, the response took about 60 minutes to complete from start to finish. Thank you to the neighbors who reported this incident to us, and to the staff at Oakland Animal Control which assisted us, this was a great team effort.”

Michelle Milliken

Michelle has a journalism degree and has spent more than seven years working in broadcast news. She's also been known to write some silly stuff for humor websites. When she's not writing, she's probably getting lost in nature, with a fully-stocked backpack, of course.

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