{"id":605369,"date":"2025-12-01T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605369\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:54:10","slug":"london-cat-rescues-have-cost-more-than-one-million-pounds-since-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605369\/","title":{"rendered":"London cat\u00a0rescues have cost\u00a0more than one\u00a0million pounds\u00a0since 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Urgent London Fire\u00a0Brigade\u00a0(LFB)\u00a0calls for cat rescues have\u00a0cost\u00a0more than\u00a0a million pounds\u00a0since 2023.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LFB\u00a0has spent\u00a0more than \u00a31.8m\u00a0since the start of 2023\u00a0rescuing animals\u00a0with a large chunk of it\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a31.1m\u00a0\u2013\u00a0being spent on\u00a0saving\u00a0our feline companions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the least tax consuming\u00a0have\u00a0been\u00a0a singular tortoise, pigeon, and hedgehog.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this\u00a0time\u00a0frame\u00a0there has been a total of\u00a03,766\u00a0rescues with the most common animals in distress being cats, birds,\u00a0dogs\u00a0and foxes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But why are cats always the ones getting into trouble?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loving cat parent, Ben Clarke, 22, who lives in London, said: \u201cThey are just so curious, whereas I guess\u00a0dogs\u00a0are usually on a lead and don\u2019t have the capability to escape, but honestly I think cats like to get in trouble a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the money spent on cat rescues by the taxpayer, Clarke said:\u00a0\u201cI think it\u00a0is a necessary use of our emergency services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a lot of cases for me locally where cats have had to get rescued from up trees, there was one just two weeks ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHumans are getting themselves into much worse situations so cats getting stuck in trees is not the worst use of money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clarke\u2019s fluffy\u00a0companion, Misty, is a half rag doll half Birman who he has had for two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Helen Carrier, 58, is cat-mum to Domino, a sphynx cat which she rescued from a breeder where Domino was bullied by other cats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarding\u00a0the amount of money spent on cat rescues, Carrier said: \u201cIt is a small amount of money relative to the importance of cats to people and wider society.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily for them they have nine lives! And they power through them on the London streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domino\u2019s co-parent, John Cubitt, said: \u201cCats are a lot more inquisitive, that is why they are always getting in trouble and getting stuck up trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite cats and other pets seeming to always get into perilous situations, the number of animal rescues is\u00a0relatively small\u00a0\u2013 as over the past six years, the percentage of calls to domestic pet related incidents has been only 0.57%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The boroughs\u00a0which\u00a0had the most animal rescues\u00a0is\u00a0Enfield\u00a0and Southwark both\u00a0with a total of 164\u00a0rescues in the past 3 years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The data set which dates to 2009 has some\u00a0obscure\u00a0animal rescue stories \u2013 including a call\u00a0in 2010 where a fish was allegedly in danger of dying in a pond in Sutton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the LFB\u00a0said: \u201cFirefighters love animals and we are ready,\u00a0willing\u00a0and able to\u00a0assist\u00a0distressed or injured animals if needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the animal rescue incidents we attend are large animals in serious distress, such as horses stuck in muddy ditches or animals who have got themselves into water \u2013 animals which could die if we\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0attend.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the RSCPA said:\u00a0\u201cThe London Fire Brigade has supported the RSPCA with many animal rescues over the years, and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0always incredibly grateful for their\u00a0assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn certain situations, crews may attend to help prevent members of the public from attempting risky rescues themselves, which could put them in danger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of firefighter training, firefighters are taught a variety of large animal rescue techniques such as how to use hobbles, ground sheets, rope head harnesses,\u00a0blindfolds\u00a0and horse slings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For smaller animals firefighters are taught domestic small animal oxygen therapy and how to care for a domestic animal suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At times, animal rescues have been as simple as luring the troublesome pet out of\u00a0their\u00a0situation with a treat or a\u00a0special\u00a0toy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Londoners\u00a0seem to have\u00a0a soft spot for furry companionship, as the capital leads the UK in both dog and cat ownership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According\u00a0to UK Pet Food<\/a>, 46% of homes in London have a dog, while 44% share their space with a cat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about if London cats should be kept indoors, Carrier said: \u201cI would not keep them indoors because they are just not like that, but it is difficult because people get stressed about losing them, however putting a tracking device on cats could help if they go missing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Featured image credit: Ben Clarke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Urgent London Fire\u00a0Brigade\u00a0(LFB)\u00a0calls for cat rescues have\u00a0cost\u00a0more than\u00a0a million pounds\u00a0since 2023.\u00a0 The LFB\u00a0has spent\u00a0more than \u00a31.8m\u00a0since the start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,28471,38414,12493,393,4884,21282,257,2603,44611,37574,1200,189692,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-605369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cat","10":"tag-dog","11":"tag-emergency","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-lfb","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-love","17":"tag-pet","18":"tag-rescue","19":"tag-tax","20":"tag-tax-payer","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115644652847929575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}