Rescuing animals can be both difficult and extremely stressful.

Sometimes the animal in question can be stuck in an awkward place. Often it can be a tree, sometimes it’s a thorny bush – in the very worst cases, baby animals have somehow gotten away from their mothers and ended up in extremely tight spaces.

In these awkward situations, persistent, precise and careful people are needed.

Perhaps that’s often why firefighters do so well when it comes to helping trapped animals …

In 2018, fire captain Brian Vaughan received an alarm call and immediately understood the need for urgency.

Eight tiny, black-coloured dog pups had been found stuck in a drain well. Those who made the call believed that a litter of black Labrador pups had been abandoned in the pipe by their owners.

20 minutes after the fire brigade arrived, all of the animals had been successfully pulled from the drain. They appeared unharmed and were subsequently taken to the Humane Rescue Organisation in the Pikes Peak Region.

It was only then that people realised they hadn’t saved any dog puppies at all. In actual fact, the black pups had become a bundle of red.

“One of the vets at the place said: ‘No, these are not labradors, they’re foxes,’” Vaughan explained to CBS in Denver.