A dopey deer who misjudged a gap and got stuck between a post and a tree has been freed by firefighters.

The RSPCA was called to a country lane near Reading on Sunday, February 21, after the woodland creature became wedged in the opening.

But after finding the animal was stuck tight, the officer called in the fire brigade to use powerful hydraulic equipment to force the tree and concrete post apart to set it free.

Thankfully, the deer was unharmed and bounded off into the undergrowth.

Rachel Edwards, animal rescue officer, said: “I believe the deer may have been running along the fence-line and thought she could squeeze through but misjudged the gap and got stuck fast.

“If she’d been spooked then that would explain how she’d ended up in a pickle.

"Unfortunately, deer are easily scared and can often bolt and end up in all sorts of predicaments.

“She was wedged very tightly and there was no way I could free her alone so I contacted Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service for assistance and was incredibly grateful when they sent a team to help.”

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Rachel covered the deer’s head - a tactic used to help calm them down - and then the fire teams took over.

She added: “Fire and rescue services have teams with specialist training to help in these sorts of rescues and they also have vital equipment that we don’t have.

“They used hydraulic equipment to push against the post and slightly widen the gap so that we could carefully push the deer free.

“I checked her over at the scene and, thankfully, she wasn’t injured so we released her and she darted off into the undergrowth. It was a wonderful happy ending.”