How Far Would You Go For A Little Pussy?
After coming home and blogging about the thoughts of the year, I had slept very little due to the events that the night unfolded. I went outside and looked down the storm water drain close by and noticed a small kitten. I was too small to climb out and there were no other exits for the storm water pipes that entered the main canal. What ensued was a bureaucratic nightmare as a storm was coming and I know how quickly the canal floods.
I called the animal protection agency (RSPCA) and was told that because the cat was a stray it would not attend but I could try the State Emergency Services (SES) or Fire Brigade. I was going to see if I could do it legally myself by calling the water authority so that I could be allowed to enter the canal with an animal trap. I also called the local hire company to see if they had one and to keep one aside so I had a back up plan. There was a storm coming and it was starting to rain already, this kitten was going to drown.
After explaining to the Water Authority what I was proposing, I was given a stern warning that if I entered the canal that I was legally trespassing and that I would be fined if court. The Fire Brigade gave me the same answer as the RSPCA and the SES told me that I should ring Ambulance Rescue. I tried to find a number to the local Ambulance station by not ringing the emergency number only to be given a mobile phone number to a lady who had no idea what I was talking about. It was starting to rain heavier and I knew it would not be long before it started to fill the canal. In desperation I called the emergency number only to be told that a cat is not an emergency but put me through to the local station. I would have saved more time if I had driven there but would have lost sight of the kitten if I did.
The rain stopped, thankfully, and the Ambulance Rescue arrived. The kitten hid in a water pipe on the side of the canal and we could not get it out. So we did the next best thing and lashed a few fence palings together to give it an exit to climb up. They left as there was nothing more they could do without trying to flush the cat out but the fire brigade was not interested in coming at this stage.
It started to spit again and looking like it was going to get heavier. I jumped into my car and went and got the animal trap. I got some chicken out of the fridge and jumped into the canal myself. I got a piece of rope and lashed it form a fence at the top of the canal to the cage as I didn’t want it to was away if it did start to flood and set and baited it. I could still see the kitten in the water pipe that it had previously retreated too. The RSPCA then turned up and I thought they were the water authority coming to fine me. They said that there had been a miss communication as the girl who took my call was new and they did attend strays if they were in danger. He saw what I had done and I was to call them if my attempts had not worked in 24 hours and left.
Then I waited with a pair of binoculars watching as the local wild Tom and Tammy returned with the rest of their litter. Looking at the other two kittens it was easy to see that he was the runt. The appearance or the Tammy drew the little kitten form its hiding place. She sniffed the chicken and I prayed I would not trap it as the kitten in question would never enter it after. Carefully the Tammy removed the chicken without touching the trigger platform and took a swipe at the runt and jumped up to feed the rest of her litter watching her. She went back for another slice of chicken and ate it next to the cage. The runt then went to get some for it while the Tammy was busy and sprung the trap.
I enlisted the aid of two women out on a power walk to help me lift the cage out of the canal. I removed the kitten for the trap and wrapped him in a towel and drove to give him a vet check and possably surrender him to them.
I have named the Kitten Frodo and he is still not out of the woods yet. He is still in my care as he will be put down if I surrender him to the RSPCA or the local council as they have too many cats at the moment. He is malnourished and very underweight for his age. He is asleep now snuggled next to a hot water bottle quite content after his feed. I have to wait till I have him to 1 kg before the animal shelter will take him for sale.
After blogging about the failures of 2007, this could be a sign of change.
5 comments:
Mr. Cellophane,
I had planned on commenting on your previous post (2007 a Calamity of Failures) but having read the subsequent posting my conjecture would have been unfounded. It seems that even in an alleged position of being drawn into a state of depression; you are capable of focusing on a need to act where the system fails.
I am offering you my congratulations, not for saving the kitten but for the fortitude to act where others would have been apathetic. I have commented to you before on the child welfare issue and how, as displayed in your writing, you are a passionate man. Even in that passion you have recognized a situation, tried to alert it, ask the assistance of those who profess authority, tangled with the bureaucracy that governs them and, in the end, took personal responsibility when they failed. There is little doubt that if it were raining that you put yourself at personal risk for something that others would find insignificant.
It may just be that this kitten was needed to show that the skills you possess are relevant, if employed in a situation like this. I think with your final line you may have realized this yourself.
Devil’s Advocate,
I just reported the happenings of the day and nothing more. I was frustrated at the amount of calls and time wasting to do something that could have been done quicker by myself. The exercise did show me that when trying to follow the bureaucratic path there is a lot of time lost and that time, especially in this case, was something I could not afford. Had I not caught the kitten, an hour later the canal did flood. Unbeknown to me physical condition of the kitten was not the best and would not have made it up the ramp we had made and that ramp was washed toward the wall by the flooded canal.
In relation to other happenings in my life, I have tried to do similar things as with the kitten. The time wasting only put lives at risk there too. I cannot say the bureaucracy has actually failed there as the situation I refer to is not over but did stumble.
Thank you for your congratulations and comments.
How is frodo?
I think you'll end up keeping him.
HEllo
Hello to you anonymous and thank you for your greetings and commenting on my blog.
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