Kitten Stuck 43' Deep Down Well for 5 Days Before Hope For Paws Makes Heroic Rescue
Eldad Hagar has become very well-known for the group he helped start, Hope For Paws. It’s a Los Angeles-based rescue, and over the years their videos of daring rescues have gone viral.
Earlier this month, the team got a distressing message from a woman in South Carolina who had a tricky situation on her hands.
“I don’t know if I’m right in doing this but I at least have to try,” the message started. “I have a kitten stuck at the bottom of about a 60′ deep well in a 4-inch pipe.”
“It’s been there going on four days now. I threw a bunch of sticks together and threaded into hole but I don’t know if little is big or strong enough to climb up, threading it’s way thru them.”
Initially, an acquaintance went on scene to assess the situation. But the case was beyond her abilities, and so Hagar and Loreta Frankonyte got on a plane and flew to South Carolina.
The pipe was only four inches across, and the kitten had been down there for five days. His meowing became consistently quieter as time passed.
The woman on the property had attempted to help the kitten by connecting a bunch of sticks and putting them down the pipe so that he could crawl out. Unfortunately, they ended up getting in the way.
The first step was for the team to remove those branches. They rigged up a line with a heavy-duty treble hook on the end, which they used to snag a branch and draw them all up.
Once that was out of the way, a plumber from Freedom Plumbing who was working with them was able to run an extendable camera down and they got eyes on the kitten.
He’d fallen 43′ down the narrow pipe. Barely hanging on, he kept closing his eyes and his meowing got fainter.
Eldad and the team had to figure out what to do to reach a kitten over 40′ below ground level. This could prove to be the trickiest situation yet.
Two of the women with them kept meowing to keep his spirits up. Eldad took a snare pole tied to a rope and rigged with a smaller cord so that he could tighten the noose around the kitten and lift him up.
The first attempt failed, as the angle on the snare wasn’t quite right and they couldn’t loop the lead around the kitten’s head. But with patience, persistence and the camera to help them see, they managed to lasso him the second time around.
After he had been hauled up to solid ground, he was held fast and wrapped in a flannel shirt to keep him warm. The poor thing had been stuck in the pipe for 120 hours.
The kitten was named “Jessie” and was taken to the vet. After getting some food and warmth, he was able to move around — but being cramped inside the pipe had taken its toll, and his muscles had begun to atrophy.
Fortunately Jessie was in good hands, his tests came back clean, and he has since been adopted into a loving home.
Hopefully this little fluffball will stay clear of pipes from now on!
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