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Woman phoned RSPCA over ‘trapped bird’ that turned out to be a smoke alarm

The RSPCA are always at hand to rescue trapped animals – but those ‘animals’ sometimes turn out to be a little more inanimate than they were expecting.

One call to the charity saw animal collection officer Alan Farr rush out to a property where the resident said she could hear a trapped bird tweeting constantly.

However, the culprit was a little less feathery than first thought.

Alan recalled: “I went into the lady’s home and we could hear a regular ‘peeping’ noise.

“She said she thought it was coming from her roof so we looked and looked.

“After searching around and unable to find the mystery bird I then went into her front room and found a smoke alarm beeping after the battery had gone flat.”

Rescue: This stone tortoise was confused with the real thing (PA)
Rescue: This stone tortoise was confused with the real thing (PA)

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Other calls to the charity included the rescue of a tortoise made of stone.

Officer Liz Braidley responded to the call about the escaped ‘tortoise’ in Sheffield.

She revealed: “I went into the lady’s garden to try to capture the tortoise and it soon became clear that he wouldn’t be giving me the run-around – as he was made of stone!”

Collection officer Lauren Bradshaw said she rushed to reports of a baby crocodile on the side of the road – but discovered that it was just a plastic one.

No danger: This crocodile was actually just a plastic toy (PA)
No danger: This crocodile was actually just a plastic toy (PA)

The charity said they receive one call every 27 seconds – more than one million a year – and have urged people to make sure they have a genuine problem.

Charity spokesman Dermot Murphy said: “We know that people mean well and most of these calls are not made in malice, and although we would like to be able to help everyone, we simply haven’t got the staff to personally investigate each and every issue that the public brings to us.

“We must prioritise to make sure we get to the animals most in need.”

In 2016, the RSPCA’s 24-hour cruelty line received 1,153,744 calls – 3% more than the previous year.

Top pic: Rex