Many people would go the extra mile to save an incredibly cute kitten, but not everyone is prepared to venture into a sewer system. Yet, that’s exactly what a dedicated rescue team and volunteers did to reunite a lost kitten with its mother.
Factory workers in Elkhart County, Indiana, stumbled upon a family of feral cats on the road, according to theanimalclub.net.
As they attempted to catch and rescue the kittens and their mother, one frightened baby kitten escaped and disappeared down a drainpipe, becoming stuck in an underground pipe.
Source: Instagram – catsnipetc
“The grate was broken. The plastic pipe ran almost a meter deep and then ended with an angle in a shaft pipe,” explained Missy McNeal of the local non-profit organization Catsnip Etc to Love Meow magazine.
An Obstinate Search
Despite their best efforts, the factory employees couldn’t free the little kitten from its hiding place and called the local cat rescue organization for help.
However, after an exhaustive eight-hour search, the rescue team couldn’t locate the kitten. Even with the use of a camera, the kitten’s exact location remained a mystery in the vast pipe system.
Source: Instagram – catsnipetc
“None of the pipes were big enough for a human to crawl through, so we needed a miracle,” McNeal continued. Reluctantly, they had to leave the crying kitten behind overnight.
Source: Instagram – catsnipetc
The following morning, the team returned with fresh ideas. They decided to run water through the pipes to pinpoint the kitten’s location – and it worked!
“She was far from the point where she had fallen in and we would never have found her otherwise,” McNeal said with relief.
Source: Instagram – catsnipetc
Having found the kitten was a significant step, but rescuing her posed another challenge. Then, a second miracle occurred in the form of a volunteer named Ashley.
Responding to the call for a slim volunteer, Ashley bravely climbed into the pipe system, disappearing into the darkness. About half an hour later, she reemerged with the dirty, half-frozen, and dehydrated kitten.
The joy was immense! After 40 hours of loneliness and cold, the little kitten needed a lot of attention and care, which she received. Soon after, the baby cat was happily reunited with her family.
