A few Cranbrook folks are being praised as heroes after helping to save a kitten from certain death on Tuesday (July 12).
It all began when one little girl fell in love with a kitten and wanted to bring it home.
Tara Horvath is a roofer and has been working out on a rural property near Cranbrook.
On Monday, she brought her daughter, Hunter, along to work so she could play with the other kids on the farm for the day.
鈥淪he was playing with the other kids on the farm and the family recently had kittens. She fell in love with this one kitten, so all day Hunter was after me, mom can I have a kitten? Mom, can I have a kitten?鈥� said Horvath.
鈥淚 told her we would think about it. Later that evening she cleaned her room and we wrote up a written contract because, you know, cats are a big responsibility. She already had the kitten picked out; it鈥檚 so tiny only six weeks old or so, and the kids there had already named it Rocky.鈥�
Horvath says that when Tuesday morning came and they arrived on site, Rocky was nowhere to be found. That is, until, they heard a faint meow coming from underneath an old outbuilding 鈥� where a small pipe leads to a decommissioned septic tank with only about one and a half or two feet of room between the ground and the building.
鈥淲e tried putting rope down there, we got a lasso, we tried a sewer snake, with no luck at all. We tried all day.鈥�
Exasperated, Horvath knew she needed help. So she called Roto-Rooter.
Dan Meldrum and his wife Ashlie, who own the Roto-Rooter franchise in Cranbrook, had never gotten such a call before.
鈥淲e were doing a job on Tuesday when we got a phone call from our receptionist with an odd question,鈥� Meldrum explained. 鈥淪he said a kitten had fallen down a sewer line, and the lady who called saw that there were pet rescues advertised on the Roto-Rooter website. We personally don鈥檛 really advertise pet rescues per say, but I know that Roto-Rooter does perform them, mainly in the U.S.鈥�
鈥淚 said, well, we can certainly try.鈥�
And try they did.
Meldrum deployed specialized camera equipment to search for the kitten.
鈥淟et鈥檚 see if she鈥檚 really in this pipe,鈥� Meldrum said. 鈥淵ou could hear her, but with the camera all I could see was cobwebs in the pipe. If an animal was in there - surely they would have knocked some of the cobwebs out.鈥�
That鈥檚 when they decided to take a look around underneath the outbuilding with the camera.
鈥淲e could all hear her meowing away, so Dan shoved the camera around and ended up finding an old well, about four or five feet deep and eight inches across,鈥� Horvath said.
Lo and behold, at the bottom of the well, they could see Rocky鈥檚 glowing eyes with the camera.
鈥淲ithout their camera, we would have never found her,鈥� said Horvath. 鈥淲e literally tried all day with this other pipe, from nine in the morning to six at night, and we weren鈥檛 even in the right place.鈥�
READ: 5 kittens thought to be dumped at Fort Steele landfill actually born there
After they had the kitten located, the team used a makeshift rope to try and catch her.
鈥淪he kept climbing up the rope but she would get one or two feet from the top and fall back down. She was so tired,鈥� Horvath said.
The team ended up temporarily pulling up some floorboards to better access the opening of the old well.
鈥淗unter was the only one that could fit down there, so she got down there with the rope but again had no luck,鈥� said Horvath. 鈥淪o, we ended up using the Shop-Vac.鈥�
鈥淲e used it on the lowest setting, and we didn鈥檛 want to hurt her so we were really trying to get her back end and not her face. Hunter got the kitten鈥檚 leg and her back end with the vacuum, so it didn鈥檛 hurt her, and she came right up,鈥� said Meldrum.
He says it was a really great team effort, and Horvath agrees.
鈥淚t was just really cool to be part of it, so many people were involved and we all came together for this common goal,鈥� said Meldrum. 鈥淲e love this community and always want to help in any way possible, whether helping people, or furry people.鈥�
Horvath says Rocky is home and happy, being cared for by Hunter. They鈥檝e even dubbed her Rocky Rooter.
鈥淭he kids on the farm said that we could change her name, but we thought it鈥檚 perfectly fitting. She had a rocky start but now she鈥檚 got a great life,鈥� said Horvath. 鈥淚t was such an amazing show of teamwork and perseverance. We were all a little emotional when we finally got her, everyone clapping and cheering. It was so rewarding.鈥�
corey.bullock@cranbrooktownsman.com
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