A BAFFLED bird thought it's goose really was cooked when it decided to take an icy plunge.

The gormless goose dived into the Leeds-Liverpool Canal near Ormerod Road, Burnley - but the water was anything but lovely.

The bird could not get a grip on the ice and after frantically sliding around for half an hour in a flap, it took some cool thinking from firefighters to get it out again.

The fire brigade got the bizarre call-out after a member of the public raised the alarm yesterday afternoon.

Leading firefighter Tony Keane explained: "There are some pens near there. It looks like the goose got out and decided to go for a swim.

"With the water being frozen the surface looks shiny and I suppose it thought the water was all right. But as soon as it got it it couldn't get any purchase on the ice and it got stuck.

"We had to loop a line around it and gently coax it back to the bank. Then we grabbed it and managed to get it out."

The brigade's incident support unit was initially called from Accrington because it carries life jackets but in the end it was not needed and turned back to base.

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