THE WORST ANIMAL RESCUE

During the firemen's strike of 1978, the British Army had taken over
emergency firefighting and on 14 January they were called out by an
elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat which had become trapped
up a tree.  They arrived with impressive haste and soon discharged their
duty.  So grateful was the lady that she invited them all in for tea.
Driving off later, with fond farewells completed, they ran over the cat
and killed it.
	-- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"