A JACK Russell got his comeuppance for frightening rabbits yesterday when he got stuck down a warren for 12 hours.

Barney dissappeared down the hole around 12pm while on a walk in woods near How Wood train station.

After spending all afternoon trying to coax out the three year-old dog his frantic owner Paul Salmon resorted to calling the fire and rescue service for help around 11pm.

Eventually after nearly two hours of trying to locate Barney in the seven or eight rabbit warrens the St albans fire crew tracked him down and dug out the rather dirty dog.

Crew commander Russell Knight, from St Albans Fire Station, said: “The owner could hear his barks but couldn’t work out where he was so after a good few hours of searching he called us.

“We had our hands down the holes trying to find where he was and we thought we would have to give up and wait till it was light but then at last knockings we found him.

“We dug around the hole with spades and shovels and then pulled him out by his collar, he was covered in mud.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a dog rescue like this.

"It's not our usual call but we were happy to help, hopefully he will lay off chasing rabbits for a while.”

Firefighter Marc Cavaciutti, pictured with Barney and his owner Paul, was among the crew who happily rescued Barney.