An “uncooperative” squirrel stuck in a manhole cover has been rescued by firefighters in an incident almost identical to one four years ago.

Rescuers in western Germany say they can’t be sure if it’s the same rodent that found itself in a similarly hapless predicament in 2019.

A spokesperson from the Dortmund fire department said it had received a report of a distressed red squirrel from a woman who had been walking in the city on Monday afternoon.

READ MORE: Squirrel takes refuge in family’s Christmas tree after wild chase caught on camera

She said she had seen the little rodent’s head sticking out of a hole in the road.

The kindly woman draped a scarf over the animal’s head to stop it from panicking until the firefighters arrived.

When the rescue team arrived at the scene, they carefully removed the manhole cover and tried to free the trapped animal.

“This turned out to be quite complicated as the squirrel was uncooperative,” the fire department said.

After a few attempts the crew was eventually able to extract the animal unharmed and it quickly scampered up a nearby tree.

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Dortmund firefighters have some experience of saving stuck squirrels. In 2019, a similar squirrel rescue drew international attention.

“It could not be determined if it was the same squirrel that had to be rescued from the same situation four years ago,” the fire department said in a statement.

The squirrel caught in a similar situation in Dortmund in 2019 was stuck so completely that the fire department had to take the manhole cover to a local vet’s practice, where it was sedated before being prised free.

Another squirrel had to be freed from a manhole cover in Munich in 2016. That lucky animal was given the name Olivio in commemoration of the large amount of olive oil his rescuers used to grease him up in order to release him.

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