COLUMBUS, Ohio – Animal expert Jack Hanna and a flamingo became trapped while trying to squeeze through an airport security turnstile.

Hanna, the director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and a frequent guest on nationally televised talk shows, was returning from a zoo fundraising event with a mongoose, a small leopard and the flamingo that got stuck.

The entourage arrived at the Ohio State University Airport just after midnight Sunday to find the terminal closed. The only way to leave the tarmac was through a 10-foot-tall metal turnstile with several horizontal bars – not the easiest exit to squeeze through when you’re traveling with boxed-up animals, Hanna said.

Hanna, 60, pushed the flamingo’s 2-foot-by-3-foot compartment into the turnstile, then continued pushing while straddling the crate.

Hanna said he eventually squirmed free, leaving the flamingo still wedged inside and everyone else trapped on the tarmac. He then walked to a nearby fire station for help. It took three firefighters to hoist the flamingo’s crate up and out of the turnstile, he said.

Rescuers hose confined cat after it spent week in tree

YONKERS, N.Y. – A fearful feline that was stuck in a tree for a week was finally blasted to safety with a high-pressure fire hose.

Volunteers with an outstretched sheet made the save as the cat – soaked and hungry but unharmed – was hosed out of the tree by firefighters Sunday night.

“Everyone was cheering,” said artist and animal rescuer Greg Speirs, who was among about 50 people assembled beneath the willow tree.

The cat had previously ignored people who banged cans of cat food and climbed ladders that were just out of reach. It took two shots with the hose to do the trick.

“As soon as the cat landed it jumped out and ran into the woods,” Speirs said Monday.

From Associated Press reports