A group of window cleaners helped get a hedgehog out of a prickly situation – by saving it from drowning.
Seven employees of the Archer Window Cleaning Services were cleaning the windows of an apartment block in?Ancoats, Manchester when they spotted the animal in distress in the Ashton canal.
Despite being on a deadline to finish the work, the men downed tools and used their own extendable poles to fish it out of the water.
Chris Oakes, 44, who runs Archer Window Cleaning, said: ?One of the lads spotted something in the water and he thought it might be a turtle or something at first.
?But when we got a bit closer we realised it was a little hedgehog.
?It was really small so can?t have been very old.
?It was on the far bank of the canal from us and it was trapped under some trees hanging over the canal.
?It kept going under the water and looked like it was in trouble.
?I know hedgehogs can swim but this one definitely wouldn?t have got out.
?We couldn?t reach it so we got some of our extendable poles and managed to get him to crawl onto it.
?Once we got him out, we rang the?RSPCA?but they told us to take him to the vet.?
Source: Manchester Evening News
After rescuing it, Chris and his team, including his son Tom, 25, handed the animal over to a vet in?Salford.
They have been given the good news that it is recovering well from its ordeal and they plan to collect it tomorrow from the surgery (FRI) before releasing it back into the wild.
Chris said: ?It was obviously a bit of surprise, we didn?t expect to have to do something like that.
?We had a deadline to hit but it?s a living thing so you can?t just leave it.
?We had no hesitation in trying to save it. We?re just glad it?s okay.?
Archer window cleaners?at the Vets tonight collecting “Archer” the Hedgehog. The hedgehog will be released later tonight near lots of fields filled with bushes, shrubs, trees and will hopefully have a little more luck.
Source: Manchester Evening News
