Firefighters used special gear to rescue a rhino

Cats stuck up trees and dogs stuck down rabbit holes are all familiar to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service firefighters - but freeing a distressed rhinoceros was a special challenge.

Qabid the Rhino, who’s the size of a small car, had to be extricated from his favourite tyre swing – yet again.

The rescue crew despatched to Edinburgh Zoo was met by the sight of the two-year-old greater one-horned rhinoceros wedged tight by his leg and neck.

Once he was sedated - a critical part of the operation - the firefighters used specialist e-hydraulic cutting equipment to free him.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Group Manager John Hanlin said: “The crew did a great job in a very unusual situation.

“Edinburgh Zoo staff informed me that this event wasn’t the first time he had got himself stuck, but he usually manages to get himself out - he very clearly wasn’t so nimble or lucky on this occasion.

“Our crew used specialist cutting equipment which is normally used for the extraction of persons involved in road traffic collisions.”

He added: “Once the firefighters managed to cut the tyre and free Qabid, the zoo vets gave him a drug to counteract the sedative and bring him round - and he was quickly back to his mischievous self”.

However it isn’t the first time they’ve dealt with a rhino, as two years ago they had to assist zoo vets during “a dental procedure” on Bertie, a greater one-horned Indian rhino.