Spelunkers save cat from Brooklyn shaft
Venusaur was stuck in in a narrow opening between two buildings for more than a week.
Nine-year-old Ryan Fanchiotti and his mom, Taryn FitzGerald, had nearly given up hope of finding the boy’s 18-month-old Norwegian forest cat. Venusaur hadn’t come home after being let outside in his Brooklyn neighborhood the day before the Feb. 8 snowstorm that hit the region.
But nearly a week later, a Brooklyn woman heard a cat crying out from a deep, narrow shaft between her building and the one next door, and she knew who to call for help: Met Grotto, a cave exploration group she once belonged to.
Two members of the group, Kay Shriver and Rob Fabiano, made a 90-minute drive from Long Island to rescue the trapped kitty. Shriver lowered herself into the 2-foot-wide space, picked up the cat and brought him back up.
She thinks he fell from a rooftop, 16 to 20 feet to the bottom of the shaft. Venusaur, who seemed unfazed by his ordeal, was returned to his grateful owners, and his veterinarian gave him a clean bill of health.
— Read it at The New York Times
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Photo: Cat rescued from shaft / via Facebook
I live in a rural area and take in stray cats, some are content to stay in, some are not.
They see the vet at least once a year for a check up and shots, and they have all been neutered. Yes, the vet has told me they would be safer inside, he also admits they are stronger and healthier than most inside cats he sees.
They all come in when I call them, and in the summer when I read a book under the big chestnut tree the small pride of minature lions is content to lie in the grass around me and watch the world go by.
Kudos to the spelunkers for retrieving the cat.
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