A pair of foxes with their heads trapped were the area's contribution to a list of animals stuck in comical situations.

The RSPCA has revealed the 20 wackiest animal rescues of the year.

Amongst the strange call-outs was a squirrel which had fallen down the loo, a snake in a dishwasher and a chubby dog stuck between a wall and fence.

Loughton made the list courtesy of a fox which got its head stuck in a fence while exploring a garden.

Another, younger fox put Leyton on the map when it managed to get its head wedged inside a car wheel.

It had to be helped out with the use of vegetable oil.

Kate Ford, RSPCA inspector, said: "This poor little fox cub was in a complete pickle.

"He had somehow managed to jam his head through the hole in an old car wheel and was stuck fast.

"He was beginning to panic and I knew we needed to work quickly.

"I tried to ease his head back through the hole, but it just wouldn't go.

"He clearly needed some lubrication, so I used some cooking oil which the animal-loving resident had retrieved from his house - and that did the trick."

Meanwhile in May, RSPCA collection officer Kirstie Gillard was called to a student house in Southwark, London, after a squirrel was found in the toilet.

She said: "Fortunately the squirrel wasn't injured at all and I could release him back into the wild where he belongs.

"I think he must have come into this house through the roof and slipped into the toilet.

"It was certainly one of the most unusual rescues I've ever carried out."

Other notable trapped animals included eight-week-old Yorkshire Terrier Ringo Starr who got his head stuck in the TV cabinet in Birkenhead, Merseyside and a cornsnake, which slithered out of a man's cereal box in Sheffield.

In Luton, a curious cat needed help after it got trapped between two electric sliding doors at a Premier Inn hotel.

The RSPCA were also called to secure a live scorpion which scuttled across a bed in the posh Hyatt Regency Hotel in Birmingham just days before Tory MPs were due to stay there for their annual party conference.