THE two-day dramatic ordeal to save a stray kitten stuck in a pipe near the Orange City Centre car park ended in tragedy in the early hours of Tuesday morning when last resort rescue measures were implemented to free the animal.
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Despite rescue efforts on Sunday and Monday by Fire and Rescue NSW, RSPCA, Orange City Council, NSW Police and Blossoms Rescue, the kitten was pronounced dead at Orange Veterinary Hospital after being flushed into a sewer drain.
“It was never ever going to be something that was going to have a particularly happy ending,” Orange Fire and Rescue NSW Station Officer Paul Collis said.
“It turned out the cat was about five-and-a-half metres from the surface and about three metres deep underground in an area where there was various bending and sloping pipes.”
He said various innovative ways couldn’t free the animal.
A Fire and Rescue NSW officer was hoisted into the drain wearing a chemical suit and breathing apparatus to catch the kitten.
“It took about a minute to get the kitten out. It was alive and mewing,” Mr Collis said.
“They passed her straight to me, I got three little cries and that was it,” Blossoms Rescue owner Bec Ferguson said.
Fire and Rescue NSW and Orange City Council representatives said despite the tragic ending, this was a good example of emergency services personnel working well together.
“We established at the beginning that none of us were going home until we got the kitten out,” Mr Collis said.
“Whether it was a cat-rescue or a more serious incident, the value of this exercise to the community could be compared to a training exercise,” Orange City Council’s corporate communication manager, Nick Redmond said.
The rescue mission cost council about $600, with Fire and Rescue NSW and Blossoms Rescue unable to estimate their final costings.
