The Service
Specialist Response - Animal Rescue - An Introduction...
animal rescue
water and flood rescue
trench rescue
confined space rescue
rope rescue
chainsaw capabilities
urban search and rescue
For many years Hampshire's firefighters have responded to all kinds of incidents involving animals and have been largely successful using their amazing ingenuity and dedication. Large animal rescue however is recognised as one of the most dangerous activities a firefighter will be engaged in and so to protect firefighters and members of the public, specialised training and equipment is essential.
Hampshire has a predominantly rural community and consequently firefighters regularly turn their skills to an array of different rescues involving pets, livestock and wild animals. The larger species more commonly rescued are horses, cattle, pigs, sheep and deer that find themselves trapped in machinery, bogs, slurry pits, rivers, pools, ditches or victims of cliff falls and road incidents. Last year Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service attended approximately 350 animal rescues both large and small.
Hampshire is also a coastal Fire Service and from time to time marine mammals become stranded. Rescues of this type require particular knowledge about the animals involved as a lack of understanding could lead to an unsuccessful outcome. Hampshire's Animal Rescue Specialists are all trained as Marine Mammal Medics having attended a course run by the British Divers Association, and will be able to give essential life support to a stranded mammal such as a whale, dolphin or porpoise until the correct flotation equipment can be brought to the scene. For more information about marine mammal rescue or attending a course yourself, check out the British Divers website at www.bdmlr.org.uk
Our local Animal Rescue Teams are based at Eastleigh, Havant and Rushmoor Fire Stations. Most firefighters do not have day-to-day experience of large animals so Animal Rescue Team members attend Sparsholt College to learn about animal psychology, how to handle different species and how to react to an animal in distress and, of course, carry out rescue techniques on our realistic training mannequin called “Lucky”. This training is then practised regularly when back on station under guidance from the Animal Rescue Specialists.
Hampshire’s Animal Rescue Specialists (pictured from left to right) are Buster Brown, Jim Green, Colin Horwood and Anton Phillips. As well as being serving firefighters they all come from rural backgrounds and have many years experience of handling livestock and specialise in animal rescue. They will attend all incidents to advise the Officer-in-Charge on matters of Health and Safety, animal welfare and rescue techniques.
Download animal rescue team information leaflet. 
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After careful evaluation of where incidents most frequently occur the decision has been made to relocate animal rescue resources from Eastleigh to the New Forest. Firefighters from Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst will be trained to undertake these specialist rescues during the summer of 2009. Utilising a new purpose built vehicle, sponsored by Pet Plan Charitable Trust the new team is expected to become fully operational from Autumn 2009
