Winter warning for animal owners

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue has been called to a number of incidents involving animals which have fallen through ice during the past few weeks.

With this in mind the service would urge all members of the public to exercise extreme caution and care when they are in the vicinity of all frozen over bodies of water and strongly advise that no adult or child ventures onto or near iced rivers, streams or inland lakes no matter how safe or tempting they appear to be.

This advice applies equally to owners of dogs who may be exercising their pets during this cold snap therefore the service would appeal to the dog owners to keep their animals firmly leashed and away from the edge of the water. The risk of persons or animals falling through ice will greatly increase as the weather improves and thawing of all waterways takes place.

In the absence of specialised rescue equipment, which may be stationed some distance from the actual incident and while that equipment is en route, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue will only attempt shore based rescues for animals and under no circumstances will any fire crews be placed in any danger to rescue an animal however distressing this may be to the owner.

The service cannot overemphasise the dangers associated with icy bodies of water and would like to thank all members of the public for their anticipated cooperation with this extremely important issue.