Kitten Rescue Operation Takes Two Days

By Paul Ciampanelli Oct 8th 2009

"Your car is meowing."

That's what the note on Patrick Mills's car said when he came out of a movie theater in Destin, Fla. this past Saturday. Little did Mills anticipate a two day long rescue of a month-old kitten that had gotten itself trapped in his cylinder block. Here's how the rescue mission went down as reported by the Destin Log:

First, Mills contacted the professionals anecdotally known for cat rescue: firefighters. Their initial strategy involved disassembling portions of the car to reach the cat and remove it from the vehicle's guts. But the spooked kitten wouldn't surrender to her rescuers. Concerned passersby stopped to try their hands; employees from local restaurants brought tuna and milk to use as bait; but nothing did the trick. By nightfall, the firefighters had given up and the cat was still stuck. Not wanting to risk harming the cat by driving the car, Mills called for a ride home where he contemplated new ways to extract the kitten.

The next day, Mills called the other experts who logically seemed suited to help: auto body shops on the one hand, and veterinarians on the other. No one that he called was of any assistance. But finally, real help came from Tami Baker, who was volunteering in the adoption center at a Petsmart close to Mills's kitten-clutched car. Though at first she was as stumped as everyone else who tried to rescue the kitten, Baker ultimately came up with a solution that was simplicity itself.

She chased the cat out of the car by simply rattling a bent wire hanger in the cylinder block.

The cat, now named Lucky, remains in Baker's care while awaiting adoption. It's an apt name, given the kind cat lovers who were around to ensure her safe extraction.