A TRAPPED duck was rescued yesterday by a team of firefighters after it fell behind the cladding of a three-storey carpet shop building.

The duck was spotted by staff at Carpet Kingdom in Wharf Street, Blackburn, in a distressed state.

But after they were unable to free the animal the RSPCA was called in.

Once it was clear that industrial cutting equipment would be needed firefighters were summoned, who then battled for an hour to free it.

Firefighter Jimmy Barrow said that after the bird was freed it then attempted to flee. A chase ensued before the duck was caught and given treatment by RSPCA vets for an injured leg and dehydration.

Mr Barrow said: “The duck was stuck down inside the cladding. It had fallen three-storeys from the roof of the building and was trapped in a very narrow gap.

“Someone in the shop must have heard it bangiong around behind the cladding and you could see its feet peeking out at the bottom.

The duck could have been there for some time.

“We were able to force open the cladding and as soon as we did that the duck was able to squeeze through.

“It tried to run off but we grabbed hold of its feet. You could see that one leg was very sore, probably from the fall, so we put it in the RSPCA cage so it could have treatment.”

Salim Valli, Carpet Kingdom owner, said the incident had been a shock.

He said: “It happened at the back of one of our warehouses.

"The building was closed at the time.”

The rescue happened at 6pm.