The squirrel was spotted last Friday by a passerby, who alerted animal-rescue services, The Local reported. Rescuers tried to grease the animal with olive oil in hopes they could ease him free, but his plump posterior made any movement impossible.
A veterinarian who checked on the trapped critter determined the squirrel was showing the first signs of hypothermia.
"He seemed to have no strength," a rescuer told The Local. "His front claws had been battered by his desperate attempts to free himself."
He was freed after rescuers and onlookers lifted the manhole cover from the pavement and eased his head from the hole, according to the BBC. He was covered in olive oil, earning him the nickname "Olivio."
"He was almost dead," rescuer Sabine Gallenberger told German media. "Now he is eating a lot and sleeps all the time."
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