OLDS — A town employee who helped rescue a little kitty plans to have it checked out by a vet this weekend, just to make sure it’s fully healthy and not injured.
The kitten was found meowing in an eight-inch storm sewer drainpipe near Sobeys on Nov. 17.
Town staff got the call at about 11 a.m. that day.
Utilities department employees Brooke Langille and Mike Daley went to see if they could help free it.
“At first it seemed hopeless as they could see the little kitten way up the piping, cold and wet and shivering and could not get at it,” said town Operations Manager Dale Rankel in an email.
“They worked tirelessly and then left some food out in hopes that it might try to come out and reported this back to me at lunch time.”
Langille was the one who actually caught the frightened feline.
“I went down the catch basin -- and no kitty,” she said during an interview. “I couldn’t find a kitty in there, so we went down the other end, still no kitty and yeah, looked down the pipe and she was sitting in the middle of the pipe; we couldn’t reach her.
“We put a cable from one end of the line to the other and then put a plug on the one end and then I pulled the cable through, nice and slow. So we got back the kitty and leaves and garbage and cleaned out the pipe at the same time.”
Langille said the kitty seemed to recover pretty quickly.
“We warmed her up. She was pretty cold. As soon as I warmed her up she was up and walking around. She seems a lot better. We found some food and water.”
Langille said she plans to take the cat to a vet this weekend, just to make sure the feline is in good shape.
Currently, Langille is looking after the kitten at her home. She hasn’t decided yet if she wants to keep it or put it up for adoption.
“I haven’t fully decided yet. But she seems pretty happy, she’s cuddly,” Langille said.
At the moment, she doesn’t have any other pets.
During the interview, Langille continually referred to the cat as “she” but admitted she’s not really sure if it’s male or female.
“I don’t know how to sex the cat, but just petting her and looking at it, I'm pretty sure it’s a girl,” she said.
Langille, 25, has been working for the town for four-and-a-half years.
She was asked if in that time this rescue was the weirdest thing she’s ever done.
“I don’t know,” she said. “(I’ve) done some pretty crazy stuff, but (it's the) first time ever finding a live kitty in there, that’s for sure.”
She agreed it’s one of the most memorable tasks she’s performed for her employer.
