A MISSING dog who found himself trapped in a small gap between a wall and a shed was reunited with his grateful owners after a joint operation to free him.

Tarka the collie had gone missing while out walking in Okehampton on Wednesday, January 17 and despite desperate attempts to find him he still hadn’t returned more than six hours later.

As his concerned family continued to look for the six-year-old pooch a member of the public contacted the RSPCA after unexpectedly spotting a dog trapped in a small gap between a wall and a shed.

RSPCA inspector Sarah Morris, who was the out-of-hours inspector covering Devon at the time she received the call at around 10pm, battled through the wild weather to get to Okehampton to try and free the hapless hound.

She said: ‘Poor Tarka had been found wedged firmly between a garden wall and a shed. Despite my best efforts I was unable to release him with any of my equipment.

‘With help from the person who found him, I tried to move the shed but we were just too weak so I contacted the Okehampton fire crew who were absolutely brilliant and used a hydraulic ram to push the shed away from the wall.

‘We were then able to pull him out of the gap. Thankfully he was wearing a tag and collar with his owners details and when I called they were thrilled to hear he had been found.

‘He was so happy to be released and his owners were delighted to have him back. I arrived back home just after 2am very soggy and muddy but relieved we managed to help poor Tarka.’

Tarka’s owner, Fiona Aylen, who has owned the cheeky collie since he was an eight week old pup, praised those who helped to rescue her beloved dog.

She said: ‘I’m so grateful to the RSPCA and fire service for everything they’ve done, without their help we may never have found him.

‘We’d been out for a walk in the evening when he went missing. Sometimes he runs around and comes back a moment or two later but when he’d been gone ten minutes I really started to worry.

‘We’d spent hours looking for him before I had to go to work and my husband continued the search but there was still no sign of him. It was so out of character for him to just disappear like that.

‘The funny thing is I’d passed the RSPCA van and fire engine on my way home but never imagined that they were helping Tarka at the time. When we received the call to say he was safe I was over the moon and so happy for the help he’d had from the inspector and retained firefighters.

‘You don’t realise what a great job they all do until you see it in action. Tarka has now recovered and very happy to be back home.’

To support the RSPCA visit www.rspca.org.uk/give