The rat, still plump with winterspeck - which literally translates to winter bacon and refers to extra pounds piled on in the colder months became stuck after it tried to squeeze through a small gap in the sewer cover. The Auerbach volunteer fire brigade was called in, as was the Rhein Neckar animal rescue team, and together a team of about eight obscurers was able to raise the cover and the
plump: Fat rat stuck in manhole rescued by
 firefighters in Germany
 KATE LYONS FEBRUARY 27, 2019
 A multi-agency rescue operation has taken place in the town of Bensheim in
 Germany after a tubby rat became stuck in a manhole cover.

 The rat, still plump with winterspeck - which translates literally as winter
 bacon and refers to extra pounds piled on in the colder months became
 stuck after it tried to squeeze through a small gap in the sewer cover.
 The Auerbach volunteer fire brigade was called in, as was the Rhein Neckar
 animal rescue team, and together a team of about eight rescuers was able to
 raise the cover and pull the rat free.

 It took about eight firefighters and an animal expert to help the rat to freedom. Photograph:
 Berufstierrettung Rhein Neckar/ Freiwillige Feuerwehr Auerbach

 The
 rat
 had
 quite
 a
 lot
 of
 winter
 fat
 and
 got
 stuck
 on
 its
 hips
 _nothing
 was going forward and nothing back," animal rescuer Michael Sehr told
 news agency DPA
 Photos of the rat showed its head and rotund torso poking out of the hole,
 with its bottom half obscured by the sewer cover. In one image it seemed to
 almost be calling for hilfe.
 The fire brigade said the rat escaped unhurt.

 "The animal was subsequently released again into the wild. The fire
 department's operation was completed after a good 25 minutes," said the
 Auerbach fire department.
 After the successful rescue, two young girls presented the animal rescue teanm
 with a gift to say thank you- a drawing of a rat surrounded by love hearts
 with the word "danke!" written on it.
 Sehr told DPA he did not have any qualms about rescuing the rat.
 "Even animals that are hated by many people deserve respect," he said.
True story 