Cat owners have been told to “learn a little personal responsibility” after it emerged firefighters had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds rescuing errant pets in the last year alone.
A new report shows that London Fire Brigade (LFB) crews spent more than £500,000 and over 75,000 minutes rescuing animals in 2024 alone.
Rescue personnel, in total, were called out for 76,600 minutes – or 53 days – to help with animal incidents at a cost of £536,224, The Telegraph revealed.
A total of 716 cat-related events were attended by the LFB between January 1 and October 31 this year – already more than in any other previous year, despite only 10 months being on record.
The amount of cats needing to be saved in the capital has more than doubled since 2020 (file photo)
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The amount of cats needing to be saved in the capital has more than doubled since 2020 – when Londoners rushed to purchase pets in the pandemic – while the cost to the taxpayer has almost tripled.
In response, William Yarwood, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told GB News: “Taxpayers will question why they’re coughing up for cat rescues.
“Instead of wasting the time and resources of our firefighters, cat owners need to learn a little personal responsibility.”
The most expensive feline rescue of the year came in September, when Flint the black moggie became stuck between two walls in Brixton, south London.
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‘Instead of wasting the time and resources of our firefighters, cat owners need to learn a little personal responsibility,’ William Yarwood said
PA
Flint spent 10 hours meowing for help while trapped in a five-inch-wide gap when firefighters were called to the scene. They then spent six hours rescuing the animal by making holes in the wall.
“He’s a sweet, timid boy who loves a head stroke and lots of TLC,” said Chrissy Ellis at the RSPCA’s animal hospital in Finsbury Park, north London, which took Flint in.
More rescues include cats stuck in chimneys, walls, armchairs, under cars, inside cars, on roofs – and 87 cats stuck in trees, which cost the LFB more than £41,000 alone.
Almost two thirds of animal rescue incidents in 2024 have been for cats – far more than the average of around half.
Flint had to be taken into the RSPCA animal hospital in north London
Daniel Warren-Cummings, a behaviourist at Cats Protection, told The Telegraph: “Firefighters do an incredible job of keeping us all safe, and it’s great to see them helping people’s much-loved pets when they’re able to do so.
“Cats are built for climbing up and not climbing down, which is why they can get stuck.”
A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: “Firefighters love animals and we are ready, willing and able to assist distressed or injured animals if needed.
“A 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 – animals which could die if we didn’t attend.
“The last thing we want is for people to put themselves at risk rescuing an animal themselves, but we do encourage people to call the RSPCA in the first instance and we will assist if our specialist equipment is required.”
