A ROBIN which trapped itself while trying to steal cheese from a mousetrap has been returned to the wild.

When RSPCA Inspector Krissy Raine was called to a home in Middlesbrough on November 12 she feared the worst.

Inspector Raine said: “Robins and mousetraps don’t sound like a good combination and I was very worried about what I might find when I got there.

“But when I arrived at the home, the householders told me the greedy little chap was fine. Luckily it was only his beak that had got caught in the trap. So they had been able to release him and then gently put him into a box to calm down and recover.

“When I checked the redbreast over, he was quite cold and appeared to be in shock. So I gave him some water and when I took him into my van, I switched the heaters to high to warm him up.

“He soon perked up, and began to look so much better. The next moment the plucky little cheese thief had hopped out of the box and off he went, back into the wild. It was a real privilege for me to handle that incident.

“I really didn’t know robins like cheese.”

The householders, who live near a river and experience problems with mice, were distraught that the robin had become trapped. They told Inspector Raine that they will never use the traps again, despite being legal.

The RSPCA believes that the most humane way to legally control mice is deterrence and prevention.

If a problem has already arisen then it is possible that the correct use of traps may result in less welfare problems than rodenticides. But the humaneness of lethal methods can vary considerably according to how they are used and, as in this case, can endanger non-target animals, the society says.