‘There were feces down there, cockroaches, spiders.’ How a kitty escaped a Florida sewer
A South Florida kitty has had quite a bit of activity in his short life.
The 6-week-old feline managed to get stuck inside a sewer drain in downtown Delray Beach last week for six days before a rescue, CBS 12 first reported.
Local woman Lindsey Bembli told the news outlet that she first heard the cat meowing in distress last Sunday and called for help from professionals.
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When a fire-rescue crew arrived, the cat got “spooked and ran,” according to a GoFundMe Bembli started to help with the animal’s medical care.
Firefighters told her the cat would likely escape on its own, so Bembli left food for it the next two days and “hoped they were right.”
But on Wednesday, the woman heard the kitten “screaming” from the drain and “spent the entire day trying to catch him,” to no avail.
Finally, on Friday, Bembli called animal rescue organization Operation Liberation, whose “badass” founder Liz Jones jumped into action.
On the organization’s Facebook page, you can see the depths Jones went through to retrieve “Baby Donatello,” the name the furball’s rescuers gave him once he was free.
Jones crawed nearly 300 feet through a 24-inch-wide drain eight feet underground to get to Donatello, according to the GoFundMe; $280 of the $5,000 goal had been reached by Monday.
“The ick factor only increased as you got further in,” said Jones in a video explainer on social media. “It got a little wet. There were feces down there, cockroaches, spiders, some toad friends...”
But the little guy was worth all the trouble. He is hospitalized at Pet Emergency Referral Center in Palm Beach Gardens, but is expected to make a full recovery. Once discharged, he will be vetted and neutered for adoption.
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