It could have been a cat-astrophe, but playtime for two young girls in Summerland, B.C. turned into a life-saving adventure when they heard a distressed feline crying.
Isobel Schneider, 11, and Mackenzie Stevens, 10, were playing near Trout Creek Elementary School when they realized a cat was trapped inside a school portable.
“I put my ear up to [the wall] and I would say, “Good kitty, good kitty,” and we could hear it scratching and rubbing against the boards in inside of there,” said Schneider.
A worker had sealed up a hole in the portable with plywood, not realizing the cat was inside.
“We knew the cat was under there, so we were trying our hardest to pull [the plywood] off, but it wouldn’t come off,” said Stevens.
After the young cat rescuers convinced a parent that this was real, a neighbour came down to the school with tools.
“He undrilled this board right here and the cat was standing there waiting for us,” said Schneider, pointing to the scene of the rescue. “It was pretty amazing, I was blown away. It was a really cool feeling that wow, we saved a life.”
The cat was extremely thin and hungry, yet otherwise okay. But there was more: neighbours thought they recognized the cat as the same one that recently had kittens.
A second look inside the portable proved fruitful - four tiny kittens were found inside.
Neighbours estimate the cat family had likely been trapped inside the portable for five days.
A local non-profit has been looking after things like food and other costs – but the adoption in this case is taking care of itself.
“If we could make up a story [this exciting] about all the cats that would really assist with the adoption process,” said Theresa Nolet, of AlleyCats Alliance, noting that their amazing rescue is helping the cat family find a new home.
And it’s a rescue story the young heroines will likely be telling for quite some time.
“It's really heart-warming to see [the kittens] playing with their mom, because if we hadn't found the mom cat then there wouldn't be any kittens,” added Stevens.
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Kent Molgat
