A COW has been rescued by firefighters from Malmesbury after it got itself into an awkward position.

The cow somehow managed to get stuck on two metal cattle bars, with one under its front legs and one under its back legs, preventing it from escaping on its own.

A fire crew from Malmesbury and special animal rescue team from Stratton, Swindon, were called at 8.40am to free the distressed animal.

After the cow was sedated the teams used hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the bars from under the cow and set it free.

The teams then used an animal rescue harness to move the cow to a nearby barn to recover from the ordeal.

The entire incident took around two hours and watch manager Chris Harvey commented that it was a difficult job in less than simple circumstances.