A badger has been released back into the wild after getting stuck in the bottom of an empty concrete sewage tank.
Firefighters used ladders and ropes to get down into the 15ft (4.5-metre) open-air tank, where the exhausted animal was spotted cowering under a pipe.
The badger had to be sedated in order to allow Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service crews a chance to safely approach.
A badger who was rescued by after it fell into a large concrete sewage tank (RSPCA/PA)
The male animal was then placed in a cage and lifted to safety before being handed over to RSPCA officers, after the operation at a sewage treatment works in the village of Whetstone, near Leicester.
RSPCA Inspector Sarah Bate said: “The poor badger had exhausted himself trying to get out.
“I got him to a vet to be checked over and thankfully he wasn’t injured.
“After he woke up fully from the sedation I released him back into the wild, in the opposite direction of the sewage tank.”
