Animals can find themselves caught in all sorts of strange places as their curiosity gets the better of them.

This is where the RSPCA steps in, sending out rescuers to free the embarrassed critters from their predicaments.

For 2017 the RSPCA has listed their best and most unusual rescues of the year, and we have picked out the ones from across our area.

  • Bedraggled Bat in Chislehurst

Your Local Guardian: Bedraggled Bat in Chislehurst

Bats are usually found nestled up in rafters but this one was just a baby so we can maybe forgive it for not following basic bat knowledge.

That said, when RSPCA workers had to be called out to a bat pup trapped in a plug hole in Chislehurst, even they were surprised.

Kirstie Gillard, from RSPCA, helped rescue the animal, and said: “We think he must have flown in through the window.”

The pulled the sodden critter free, which was barely half the size of a thumb, and made it some mini water bottles using a disposable glove.

The bat pup was taken to the Wildlife Aid Foundation hospital in Surrey and was released after it recovered a few days later.

  • Fenced Fox in Tadworth

Your Local Guardian: Fenced Fox in Tadworth

Foxes can sneak through all sorts of gaps and crevices, but for this one cub it pushed its luck further than it could go.

RSPCA animal welfare officer Carl Hone had to rescue the cub at Tadworth Primary School on April 12 after it had gotten caught in a metal wire fence.

A teacher running a holiday club found the poor fox, which was only around three or four weeks old, stuck and it couldn’t get loose.

Carl cut through the fencing with wire clippers and the only part of the cub that was injured was its pride, so it was let loose back to its den and family.

  • Dopey Dog in Bexleyheath

Your Local Guardian:

The forlorn expression on this terrier says a lot about how it felt life was currently going for it after it got trapped in a fence in Bexleyheath on July 27.

5-year-old Poppy escaped from her garden and rather swiftly found herself stuck in a fence in Danson Park.

Members of the public found the stricken pooch and called in the RSPCA to help and she was reunited with her own Julia Clifford.

She said: “It was actually a godsend that she got stuck in that fence because it could well have saved her life. I was so relieved that she was home, safe and sound, and hadn’t run into the road or been hit by a car.”

  • Flummoxed Fox in Dartford

Your Local Guardian:

Saving animals caught between a rock and a hard place is just part of everyday life for RSPCA officers, such as for this poor fox in Dartford.

Found by RSPCA inspector Rosemary Leach on July 28, the fox had gotten trapped trying to jump through a gap between a wall and a fence and was struggling to breath.

The fox was freed and taken to South Essex Wildlife Hospital for treatment to wounds on his food where he had been scrambling to get out.

Inspector Leach said: “Thankfully, after a couple of days of monitoring he was able to be released back to the wild on August 1.”