Dog rescued from drainage pipe by Oxford firefighters

Fire crews have helped rescue a dog after it followed a rabbit into a narrow drainage pipe that was more than 400m (1300ft) long.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters from Rewley Road Fire Station, in Oxford, helped free the three-year-old terrier, named Damsen, on Wednesday.

The operation involved the RSPCA, as well as local drainage and construction companies that helped dig a trench to bring the terrier to safety.

It took rescue workers “several hours of determined work” to locate and then rescue the dog and make sure “she was no longer a Damsen in distress”, the service said.

Talking to BBC Radio Oxford, Rewley Road Station commander Dan Shepherd said it was a “good reminder that if anything like this does happen, we’re here and we will happily come and support as best we can”.

He said Damsen’s owner had been “brilliant” during the rescue, saying: “They were probably a lot calmer than I would have been if that was my pet.”

“I would suggest to the terrier that was stuck – probably don’t chase a rabbit again, because the rabbit seemed to get the better of her on this occasion.”