IT was more like animal farm for the crew at Burnley fire station when a rabbit on a lead was brought in followed by an emergency call to a stuck, pregnant ferret.

Firefighters were in hysterics when Gillian Lingard turned to the brigade for help at 7.30pm when her rabbit Autumn, a five-year-old Canadian silver fox, was suffering because an identity ring had tightened around its paw.

Gillian, of Lionel Street, Burnley, said: "My husband Dave had tried to cut it off but our cutters were not sharp enough and he could not get through the ring.

"My nephew Jordan Edmondson, four, was staying with us and he said his father could remove it because he was a firefighter."

But Gillian's brother Gordon, from Colne, works at Nelson fire station so rather than ask him, she took the pet to Burnley.

Gillian, an events organiser at the town's Asda store said: "They were in hysterics when I took Autumn in.

"One of the firefighters said he had never seen a rabbit in the fire station before.

"In two minutes they had cut the ring free. I am very grateful to them."

Gillian has three children Chantal, ten, David, eight, and Brogan, seven, and the rabbit is the family pet -- along with guinea pigs.

Autumn and her daughter Maytime were rescued by the family about two years ago.

When Maytime died in January, Gillian took her to the vet who said she was overweight and the identity ring which she had on one of her paws had been put on at birth and was very tight because the rabbit had grown.

The rabbit wasn't the only furry problem for the fire crew because yesterday, they were called to a house in Travis Street where pregnant ferret Nipper was stuck in a speaker.

The back end of the ferret was stuck one side of the speaker while it had got its head inside the speaker and was stuck.

Firefighters used tin snips to cut the back off the speaker and eventually managed to free the animal.