A dog which was due to be destroyed after a dramatic rescue by firefighters has been given a second chance at life.

Bozo, a Staffordshire Cross puppy, was abandoned beside Pendle Wa-ter, Reedley last month.

Firefighters used specialist equipment to reach the unwanted pet which was on the river bed before Laura Robinson, a dog warden with Pendle Council, was called.

She said: “A woman had seen the dog at the bottom of the river bank and called the fire and rescue team.

“There have been repo-rts of other dogs being thrown away into that river.

“Because of the amo-unt of strays we have picked up, our kennels are full. We did not have enough room for Bozo so I frantically called a lot of charities before a friend recommended Str-ay Aid in Durham.

“We are very pleased with their efforts beca-use the last resort would have been to have the dog put down.”

Recent figures show that last year 107,228 stray and abandoned dogs were picked up by local authorities from UK streets.

Neil Ashworth, Burnley watch manager, said: “We treat animals as we do humans, if there is a life in danger, we have a duty to rescue it.

“There is always a risk involved with water rescues, so if the dog had been put down, it would have been terrible.

“The work done by Stray Aid and Pendle Council has been great."

Staff from Stray Aid also took three other dogs from Pendle Council's kennels to help the dog warden house more emergency strays from East Lancashire.

John Bielby, the chief executive of Stray Aid, said: "We were called by Pendle Council and we knew that we could help.

“We specialise in re-homing animals in these sorts of cases.

“So it was worth the 300-mile round trip from Durham.”

The pup's progress will be published on the site www.strayaid.co.uk.