Kitten abseil rescue like 'prison escape attempt'
Cambs Fire and RescueA firefighter abseiled into a narrow gap as part of protracted efforts to rescue a kitten trapped between two buildings.
Purdy pushed open a window and escaped from the first floor of a home in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire at about 02:00 BST on Monday.
Despite her owners trying for several hours to coax her to climb out using dust sheets and quilt covers tied together "like a bad prison escape attempt", they eventually resorted to calling the fire and rescue service.
It took about three hours and one abseiling firefighter to rescue Purdy, whose owner said she "could not believe fire crews would take time to save our kitten when they are so overstretched with all the real emergencies".
Kate FeltwellKate Feltwell and her husband had only owned Purdy for about five weeks and, although the black and white kitten loved watching the world go by from the first-floor home in Park Street, it was not allowed out.
"We only left the kitchen window open an inch as it was so hot, and it's quite stiff, but she's 15 weeks old now and getting bigger - she just pushed it open," said Feltwell.
Her husband persuaded Purdy to come inside using treats but she "came in and darted straight out before he could shut the window".
It was then the couple realised the cat had fallen about 8ft (2.4m) down a narrow gap that in places was only about 6in (15cm) wide.
"We could hear her but couldn't get to her," Feltwell said.
"We tied sheets together and dropped them down as she loves climbing up things - it was like a scene from a bad prison escape - and it didn't work."
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Cambs Fire and RescueNot wanting to call the fire service out in the middle of the night, but with their own attempts failing and when Purdy fell silent, they relented.
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said crews from Chatteris and Huntingdon arrived shortly before 09:00 "to find a kitten trapped between two buildings".
"The crews used rope rescue skills to rescue the kitten."
Feltwell said a firefighter had to "abseil from the roof of the next building to reach Purdy and he took a bag filled with treats to try to get her".
He succeeded and Purdy was hauled to safety and reunited with her owners.
"When I got her back in and opened the bag the little madam was just sitting inside eating her food like nothing had ever happened," said Feltwell.
She added: "I hear the fire engines going by all the time to all these wildfires and other emergencies and I cannot believe the efforts they went to to rescue a little kitten in their valuable time.
"They went above and beyond anything I could ever have expected and we are so, so grateful."
She said she had ordered a mesh cover for the window as Purdy wanted to go back out again, not having learned her lesson the first time.
"But you can't fix stupid, can you?"
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