Scottish SPCA reveals unusual animal rescues during lockdown

A sugar glider clinging onto a washing line four-storeys high and a fox cub sleeping in a car engine are just two of a number of unusual rescues the Scottish SPCA has been called out to over lockdown.

Ahead of Scottish Animal Week starting on Monday, the charity has revealed some of its most interesting rescues over the past few months.

An injured lamb was rescued from the cliffs of North Tolsta on the Isle of Lewis. Another was also saved from behind a waterfall at Calderglen Country Park in East Kilbride.
A surprised motorist in Dunfermline discovered a sleeping fox cub in their car engine.
Two swans had to be rescued in Ayr after becoming trapped between a metal pipe and brickwork.
A tiny sugar glider was found clinging onto a towel on a washing line on a balcony four-storeys high in Rutherglen. The tiny marsupial – which is not native to the UK – can glide the length of a football pitch in one go due to its webbed ‘wings’. After a public appeal, Mila was successfully reunited with his family members Chilli and Cuba.
A gull was released back to the beach after falling down an old chimney and becoming wedged behind breeze blocks.
A fox that ended up between a wall and a pipe was safely encouraged out of a building stairwell and returned to the great outdoors.
An osprey that was found unable to fly next to the River Teith in Deanston, Stirling, has been receiving treatment at the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue in Clackmannanshire. Now named Egg, the bird has been building his strength with a diet of trout and will be released in time for his migration to Africa this winter.

Between March and June, the Scottish SPCA cared for nearly 3000 animals and released 700 back into the wild.

If you have any concerns about an animal, call the Scottish SPCA’s confidential helpline on 03000 999 999.