Phone, backhoe keys to rescue
A combination of oldfashioned manual labor and new-age digital technology resulted in the rescue of a tiny kitten from an uncapped sewage line Tuesday on Southfork Drive in West Rome. A backhoe and smartphone were the critical tools used to rescue the kitten.
Rome Water and Sewer Department crews, with help from animal control and Rome-Floyd County firefighters, worked for close to four hours to free the orange tabby that fell 8 to 10 feet down a sewer stub-in Monday.
Kristy Larue, president of Floyd Felines cat rescue organization, carried the 4- to 5-week-old kitten
to Culbreth Carr Watson Veterinary for a checkup and bath. Larue said her organization would work to find the kitten a good
home after it is weaned.
Becky Dupuis called for help Monday night around sunset after hearing the cry of a kitten outside her
home. “I went outside and couldn’t find anything,” Dupuis said. Then she saw the PVC pipe in the high grass on an adjacent
vacant lot and quickly determined the cat was down the pipe.
Police responded to the scene Monday night and determined there wasn’t much they could do at the time.
Tuesday morning, Dupuis again heard the cries and called for help again. This time, a fire engine company and two animal control officers responded and quickly called the water and sewer department for help.
Firefighter Kaleb Kibble, who at first thought he was going to use a ladder to rescue a cat from a tree when he got the call, said he didn’t get any training on sewerpipe kitten rescues in the lengthy fire department rookie school.
A backhoe was brought to the scene, but rescuers had to wait for utility representatives to come and mark the underground power and cable lines.
After a mini-trench was dug at least 10 feet into the ground around the sewer stub, water department employee James Hull cut the PVC pipe in several sections and animal control officers tossed him a can of cat food to try to coax the kitty out of the six-inch line.
When that didn’t work right away, Keelan Freeman and Matt Cordle, the two animal control officers, used the smartphones to find kitten calls and started playing the sound of a kitten from the phones. Finally, the tiny cat came out of the line and Hull grabbed him.
“This has been one of the most difficult rescues
I’ve seen and I’ve been here 16 years,” Freeman said.
“Man, I’m just ready to get out of this hole,” Hull said after handing the kitten up to others in the rescue party.