Fire crews were in bullish mood when they tackled a heavyweight rescue.

Bruno the one-tonne bull had become stranded up to his shoulders in a muddy ditch when crews were alerted to his plight at around 1pm today.

The brigade's Faversham-based Animal Rescue Unit (ARU) was called to the scene in Marsh Road, Ruckinge, along with fire crews from Folkestone.

The stricken nine-year-old white Charolais bull was discovered after his owner went to check on him this morning and found him happily grazing in the ditch.

However, it then became apparent that Bruno, who weighs around one tonne, had become stuck and was too tired to free himself.

In order to free Bruno firefighters had to attach strops around his body and winch him to safety using the crane on the ARU.

Officer in Charge, station manager Nick Waghorn, said: "At first we tried to lead Bruno from the ditch but because his legs are quite short this was proving impossible, so we decided to use our specialist equipment to lift him out.

"He was obviously relieved to be free, appeared to have suffered no ill effects and was pleased to join his bovine buddies."