A 10-week-old kitten used up one of his nine lives on Tuesday, after he was rescued from a storm drain behind the Southold 7-Eleven by some good-hearted angels who came to his aid.
According to Gillian Wood, executive director of the North Fork Animal Welfare League, she received a call on Monday night at 8 p.m. from Southold Town police, about the kitten, stuck in the storm drain.
Wood called NFAWL staffer Gabrielle Stroup and the pair set out to save the four-footed feline in distress.
When they got there, because it was dark, they couldn’t remove the kitten but made sure the drain was empty, diverting all the water so that the pipe would stay dry, Wood said. In addition, they put food outside and left wood, to help the kitten climb out.
Next, Wood said she called William Park and his crew at Coastline Cesspool in Peconic, as well as Jeff Standish and Scott Kessler from the Southold Town Department of Public Works. She also thanked Jeremy from 7-Eleven and Roy Schelin from North Fork Sanitation, all of whom came to the rescue.
Park, she said, had a camera that could be inserted into the drain. At first, Wood said, the playful kitten kept “hopscotching” over the camera but finally, they were able to create a simulated Q-tip and pull the camera out, with the kitten brought to safety, too.
Right now, Wood said, “He’s very, very scared,” and is currently at the North Fork Animal Welfare League’s shelter on Peconic Lane in Southold. But after vaccinations and neutering, the kitten, named Willy after his hero, will be up for adoption..
“It takes cooperation to do any kind of rescue,” Wood said, thanking all involved for a happy ending. “What a fabulous community rescue effort.”
