The wildest RSPCA rescues of 2025 - including swan stuck in the frozen Leeds and Liverpool Canal

It has been one of the charity’s busiest years on record, filled with dramatic rescues that prove animals can find themselves in the most baffling of predicaments, with the sheer volume of calls highlighting a year where the UK’s wildlife seemed particularly prone to misadventure, keeping inspectors on their toes across every county.

The charity recently compiled its ‘wackiest’ cases of the year, showcasing the extraordinary lengths rescuers go to—from donning dry suits to scale sewage systems to navigating the oily depths of delivery van engines.

These stories serve as a light-hearted look at the charity's work, but they also underscore the vital, often dangerous, role RSPCA officers play in protecting animals that have no other way out.

The 2025 list is a testament to the curiosity (and occasional lack of cunning) of the UK’s wildlife.

In January, a fox in Mottingham, South East London, found himself wedged between the slats of a garden chair after a slip-up on the patio, requiring a delicate extraction to free his trapped paw.

Meanwhile, a fox cub in Derby took a more high-tech approach to trouble, hiding inside an Amazon delivery van's engine. She was only discovered when she gnawed through a cable, triggering a dashboard warning light that led the baffled driver straight to her.

The year also brought some unexpected exotic visitors to British shores. In July, a Greenwich fish and chip shop owner was startled by a corn snake slithering through the shop, which was later found to be a harmless escapee from a nearby home.

By November, the Cornish village of Gwennap was on high alert after an "overweight" raccoon - weighing a staggering 11.2kg - was spotted in a resident's garden. The local homeowner initially thought she was "losing her marbles" before the charity confirmed the North American native was indeed making himself at home in her greenery.

Birds, too, had their fair share of mishaps in 2025.

A peregrine falcon became tangled in anti-bird netting on a high-rise block of flats in Birmingham, requiring a daring rescue, while a lost puffin—later nicknamed ‘Oona’ after the Puffin Rock character—had to be nursed back to health in Herefordshire.

Blown 110 miles inland by heavy winds, the exhausted seabird was a long way from her Pembrokeshire home, but she was eventually returned to the coast after a diet of sprats restored her strength.

Closer to home, one of the year’s most dramatic winter rescues took place right on our doorstep. In January, as a bitter cold snap took hold, a swan became the focus of an emergency call-out after it was found trapped by thick ice on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The bird had become completely immobilised by the freezing surface, unable to move or feed as the temperatures plummeted toward record lows.

RSPCA rescuers had to work quickly and carefully to break through the ice, navigating the slippery banks to reach the exhausted swan before it succumbed to hypothermia.

Thankfully, the bird was safely freed and taken to a specialist centre for assessment, serving as a stark reminder of the challenges our local wildlife faces during the harsh Yorkshire winters and the importance of keeping a watchful eye on the city’s waterways.

Want to know how to support the RSPCA Leeds, Wakefield and District Branch in 2026? Head on over to their website to learn more about their Save Our Centre appeal or how you can volunteer your time to help care for animals looking for their forever home.