Animal-loving schoolboy helps rescue deer trapped in Sutton Coldfield town centre
The deer was stuck in a fence in an alleyway off Lichfield Road and High Street in the town centre and was rescued after the Bishop Vesey's Grammar School pupil alerted the fire service
A caring animal-loving Sutton Coldfield schoolboy stepped in to help deer in distress by one of the town’s major roads.
Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School pupil, Ibraheem Ayub, was walking home along Lichfield Road from school to Sutton’s train station on Monday (September 23) at around 3.40pm, when he spotted a creature stuck in a fence by a railway embankment.
At first he thought it was rabbits or mice – but on closer inspection discovered it was a baby deer trapped between metal railings at the top of High Street.
Ibraheem was concerned and determined to help rescue the deer. The 12-year-old year eight student told the Observer: “I was walking back from school, not on the usual path, because I was going to the shop to buy some confectionary.
“There’s any alleyway that leads off by the railway track just past Sutton College and I just glanced towards that way and I saw what looked like two rabbits or I thought it could be mice.
“I came around the gate and got up close and saw it was a baby deer.
“It was making baa-ing noises. I could see it was in pain and it had an injury.
“I didn’t know quite what to do. A year six boy asked why I was there and I said ‘there’s a deer stuck in a fence, don’t come too close’, as when I got close to it, it struggled. I didn’t want it to get in to more trouble.
“I went on my phone and researched what do you do when you find a deer that’s stuck and it aid call the RSPCA.
“There was an automated message and I pressed the numbers it said but then it just went in a loop again.
“Then I called my mum. She said call 999. I did and asked for the fire service.
“Two policemen came first and they tried calling the RSPCA too but it didn’t work for them either.
“So they called for a fire engine. A little over five minutes later the fire officers arrived. “When I first arrived there was one other pupil with me but then crowds came from the college and the school.
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“I was pretty worried for the deer. I like animals and have got two cats of my own.
“I went back the next day. I knew it wouldn’t be there but I wanted to check and saw the fence had been prised open.”
As Ibraheem was concerned – his mum Rebecca – posted on the Sutton Coldfield Community page and said: “This afternoon when walking to the station from Bishop Vesey, my son saw a trapped baby deer in a fence just off the High Street.
“He tried RSPCA and couldn't get through to anyone for a while so he called emergency services.
“When the fire brigade arrived to cut the deer free they told the boys to leave but he's now very upset and wondering if the deer survived. I told him I'll try and find out.. And wondered if anyone here knows whether the deer was OK?
“We hope it got vet treatment and makes a good recovery. The photo shows the back of the deer which was badly stuck.”
And a Tweet from Erdington Fire Station was posted in reply. The fire service said: “Red watch attended an animal rescue today in Sutton Coldfield, small deer stuck in railings, released using spreading equipment to return to its natural habitat #notjustfires.”
And a spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service added: “We were called at 3.43pm – a 999 call – saying that there was a small deer stuck in a fence on a bridge by a railway line behind the college, with a bad cut.
“We sent five firefighters on an engine from Erdington and they released the small deer from metal railings using hydraulic spreaders usually used at the scenes of road traffic collisions.
“Crews were unable to hold the deer at the scene and it has fled. The RSPCA were updated and their officer was cancelled.”