RSPCA Friends of West Hatch Newsletter Autumn-Winter 2018 | issue 15 | Page 9

somewhere in her wall cavity but I could
not get it out! I worked my hands along its
body and held the sack up to the gap and
as it decided to bite back at whatever was
stopping its escape it came back along its
own body and struck at my hand holding the
sack and glided into the sack with the help
of my other hand. I can tell you I have never
secured a sack quicker in my life!
I knew very little about Rat Snakes until that
night but my research the following day told
me they could be very fast and aggressive,
facts that were very evident on the night!
The snake was later claimed by its owner and
we suspect it had made its way along the
basements in the terraced block to rest on
that fridge!
The picture below shows a Fire & Rescue
Officer on top of a NatWest Bank after
assisting with a rescue. On a weekend
in the summer last year I received a call
that staff at the bank could see a mother
duck and ducklings tucked under some air
conditioning units high up on the roof on a
tiny amount of water and the ducklings kept
getting trapped in the wiring.
When I arrived and climbed
all those flights of stairs it was
obvious the Mother Duck had not
made a good parenting decision
with the choice of location!
As the roof was so high and there was no
access onto it I left the building to call
the Fire Service for their assistance. To
my delight however, as I walked out onto
the street in the town centre there was a
Hampshire Fire & Rescue open day and there
was a fully kitted out Rescue truck parked
just metres away. I approached the lead
officer and explained my need for a ladder
which must have seemed like a very unusual
request at the time which is probably why I
had to go through it twice! They were more
than happy to help and assisted in capturing
all 11 ducklings successfully without any
falling off the roof in the process!
Now that I am office based at West Hatch,
I get my animal fix in a very different way
and enjoy having some of the dogs from the
centre spend a day in the office with me to
give them a break from kennels.
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