Girl's Kitten is Rescued from Storm Drain After Several Days

A 15 year old San Antonio, Texas girl’s kitten is safe and sound again after nearly a week spent trapped in a storm drain.

Cynthia Lopez and her mom called FOX 29 TV to report that Cynthia’s kitten, Whiskas, got loose and had been heard meowing from the drain since Monday. FOX 29 called Animal Care Services and the San Antonio Public Works department, then came to the scene to report that crews were on their way.

KSAT also came out to the scene Friday morning, and reported on the kitten’s successful rescue, accomplished in a joint operation between Animal Services and a Public Works crew.

Neighbors told KSAT they had heard the kitten’s cries day and night for days and they’d been unable to help the little creature, thought they tried.

“Everybody was trying to get it out,” said Mary Salazar who lives in a home not far from the manhole where the kitty disappeared. “People go down there and I guess give it food.”

Cynthia had been feeding Whiskas during the long ordeal.

The KSAT video report below tells about the rescue, which took hours. The rescuers placed a trap into the drain, but when Whiskas hadn’t gone in after a few hours they figured the kitten had traveled further into the drainage system, and began opening other manholes in the neighborhood until they heard Whiskas meowing from another storm drain on a street nearby.

A worker went down into the drain and emerged with the wet and bedraggled kitten. An Animal Care Services worker took Whiskas into care and planned to reunite the kitten with Cynthia Lopez after school let out for the day.