YFD photos
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Firefighters come to the aid of animals in many ways: saving them from burning homes, reviving them with oxygen masks, rescuing them from dangerous and difficult to reach places, and more. This week, an Arizona fire department made an unusual rescue.
The Yuma, Arizona Fire Department came to the rescue of a cat with its head stuck in a dog food can on Monday, freeing the kitty without injury by cutting off the can.
Two women saw the cat, which was unable to see due to its predicament, nearly get hit by a car and took it to the Yuma Fire Department’s Station #4, looking for help.
Firefighter Ladd Elwood used metal cutters and safely freed the cat, without injury to himself or the animal.
YFD information officer Mike Erfert said it’s common for department personnel to help with animal rescues, but this case was definitely an uncommon one.
“How embarrassing” for the cat, Erfert joked. “Bad enough to get your head stuck in a can, but it had to be a can of dog food. His cat card is getting taken away.”
The fire department was happy to have been able to help the cat.
“It all comes down to being able to lend a hand, and to provide a service, and to assist those in need,” Erfert said. “Sometimes those in need are our animal friends.”
The women who saved the cat by bringing it for help said they think they’ve seen in in the neighborhood. They took the cat home in hopes of finding its owner, if it has one.
The Yuma Sun reports that Yuma resident Karen Brumley saw the freed cat’s photos at Facebook and thinks it may be her family’s missing pet, Phillip, who has been missing for a few weeks.
“We have desperately been looking for him,” Brumley is quoted saying by the Sun . “If it’s him, that would be such a blessing.”
