NSW SES Volunteers have rescued three tiny kittens from the roof and walls of a business in Port Macquarie.
NSW SES Port Macquarie Hastings Unit Commander Michael Ward said that the business owner and his staff had called a vet, who in turn asked for the NSW SES’ help to get the kittens down from a suspended ceiling.
“We sent a crew out yesterday at about lunchtime. We found both the kittens and their mum, but she didn’t want to come down,” said Michael.
“Since you can’t get a cat down from a suspended ceiling without breaking it, the vet set up a trap next to the kittens and organised to come back the next morning.”
The trap was a wire cage with a door that closes when the cat walks in. Michael said that the vet baited it with some tuna to try and coax the mother cat in.
“At about 3:30pm that afternoon, the owner heard meowing in one of the walls. We went back at 5.00pm after their customers had left. One of the kittens was stuck in the wall.”
Using a bit of SES-ingenuity, Michael stuck his long arm through a hole in the wall and dangled a chux wipe in front of the kitten’s nose.
“The kitten wasn’t too far down the wall, about a meter down. When it started to play with the chux wipe and got its claws stuck, we gently lifted it up and out to the doting staff.”
Michael and his team paid one last visit this morning, going back to find that mum had walked into the trap overnight.
“The vet was able to take both the cat and her kittens away. If they have owner’s, they will find them but if they’re strays, the good news is that there is a long list of all the staff at the business who are willing to adopt them!”
“The staff were stoked that we could get the kittens out and the boss was stoked that we could get them out without cutting his wall.”
When asked why the rescue was so successful, Michael gives the credit to his team.
“I’m always impressed with the level of professionalism displayed by the members of our Unit; I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people.”
