City worker rescues kitten from storm drain in Prince Albert

By Susan McNeil

It took some work, a safety harness and a willing public works officer, but an eight-week-old kitten has been rescued from the bottom of a storm drain in Prince Albert.

Mae, as the kitten has been named, is now in the care of the SPCA but not before spending some hours meowing as loudly as she could from the bottom of the drain, said Ashlee Bober, Prince Albert SPCA’s manager.

“Their officer ended up going down the drain and collecting the little kitty and brought her up for us. It was quite a treacherous fall for the little girl,” said Bober.

The kitten had no injuries but was quite scared.

According to Public Works, the drain is seven feet deep and about four feet wide and is located at 501 28th St. W.

At the bottom of the drain is a catch basin and a pipe that runs to the storm main.

The kitten was in the 10-inch pipe and it took the city worker 20 minutes of coaxing with some cat food before he convinced the kitten to come out.

A previous attempt to convince Mae to crawl into a lowered pet carrier was not successful at all.

It was only because the kitten was so small that she was able to get in the drain at all as most animals would not, said Bober.

Mae is only about eight weeks old, which is how she was able to fit down the drain. (SPCA/Facebook)

“It was just kind of the perfect time for her to crawl over the manhole and fit down the holes. Her being too much bigger and she never would have been able to fit down there,” Bober said.

She has no idea how long Mae spent in the drain, but it wasn’t too long as she was still in relatively good spirits. Bober estimates the cat’s stay wasn’t longer than 24 hours.

“It was honestly just very lucky somebody heard her cry down there and she was crying very loud so it was echoing all the way up so people could hear so the right person heard,” Bober said.

The SPCA got the call on Tuesday morning from a passerby who heard the kitten meowing. The animal control officer then contacted Public Works for help.

First, the drain had to be tested to make sure there were no noxious gases, and then the rescuers tried lowering a cage hoping the kitten would go in.

She would not so the worker put on a safety harness and went down the drain.

If Mae’s owners do not reclaim her, she will go up for adoption but not for a while as she is still quite small.

Bober said the public should keep in mind if they do hear animals down drains to not climb down themselves as it can be dangerous. Instead, call the municipality or the SPCA which has officers that deal with found animals.