Crew volunteered to retrieve the giant sculpture as part of a training exercise after it was rolled down a hill by vandals
View gallery Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team retrieve wooden owl
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Helping a giant wooden owl out of his watery predicament was no hoot for members of Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team.
The crew volunteered to retrieve the giant sculpture from a pond at Flatts Lane Woodland Country Park.
Barry Warrington explained: “Some ‘kind person’ had decided to attempt to roll it into a pond.”
After seeing the sculpture stuck in the mud the team offered to lend a hand.
“We decided to get it out as part of a training exercise,” said Barry.
He said the sculpture, which was to be a new addition to the site, is a chunky piece at approximately 5ft 6in tall.
Of its rescue he said: “It would be difficult to do something like this during the day.”
But they carried out the complex rescue exercise at night under realistic conditions.
A crew of around 20 used slings to secure the owl before placing it on an old stretcher now used for training.
“We sometimes rescue live animals but never a wooden one,” said Barry.
Councillor Olwyn Peters, Redcar and Cleveland Council's cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, said: “One of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team members, who regularly walks his dog at the walkway, suggested the volunteer team could help to retrieve the wooden owl as part of a training exercise so it can finally be installed at its permanent location in the country park.
“Due to the wooden owl’s size and weight this will prove to be a tricky exercise and on behalf of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and the Friends at Flatts Lane, we would like to say a big thank you to the team for undertaking this rescue.”
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