Dataset taken from the London Datastore (January 2021)
For data available since 2009, London Fire Brigade (LFB) have been publishing records on animal rescues in London. A total of 7,224 incidents have been logged. The animals in question can be found trapped in cars, stuck up trees, having fallen lakes amongst other unfavourable situations. Let’s find out what animals have been rescued and where.
Where have animals been rescued in London?
Firstly let’s take a look at which boroughs and areas have had the most problems. The messy pie chart below shows us that there is a quite an even spread across the capital. No one borough or area stands out as having the most trouble with their pets.
What time of the year are there more rescues?
The expectation is that there will be less activity in winter, when animals are on the move less. This is backed up by the numbers and the graph below which shows us most calls are made in the summer months, between May and August, presumably pets spend more time outside at this point. Over the last 11 years, July was the most active month, and there were 917 callouts. Conversely, the cold weather of February could be a factor in keeping incidents down below 400 in the same period.
Which animals need saving the most in London?
So let’s have a look at what is being rescued by the LFB. In the colourful treemap below, the larger the rectangles the more incidents. Cats, cats, cats. Nearly half of all incidents involve cats and a deeper dive into the details unsurprisingly points to them finding themselves in high places, with 600 records relating to “tree” and 450 incidences of the word “roof”. The second and third largest rectangles belong to birds and dogs. The most exotic animals logged were a tortoise in Kingston and three lizards.
Over time, have some animals become more popular?
Below is a table showing the number of incidents for different animals over the 11 year period. Notice how during the period, rescue numbers remain steady for many animals. Bird calls have increased by 142%, whereas dog incidents are down 44% since 2009. So does this mean birds are more popular pets than dogs? There are lots of factors at play, but realistically, it probably means the pigeon population in London is thriving and dog owners have become steadily more careful.
What has this told us about animal rescues in London?
In conclusion we have established that calls are placed to LFB from all over London. Cats cause the most headaches and the warmer the weather, the more chance of them being stuck up a tree!
Analysing animal rescues in London
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