A tiny kitten survived for weeks in a storm drain because nearby residents refused to give up on him, as NBC Los Angeles detailed.
After an unusually long ordeal underground, the young cat, named Stormy, has recovered enough to be adopted.
What happened?
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles described in a press release how the 3-month-old kitten spent weeks trapped in a sewer beneath a private community in Gardena.
A neighbor first alerted firefighters after hearing the kitten below ground. Even after responders knew where he was, they could not quickly get him out, the SPCALA said.
The manhole cover over the drain was sealed, so crews could hear Stormy but were unable to safely reach him. For a couple of weeks, nearby residents found a way to keep him going by lowering food and water into the storm drain, per the release.
It was during that stretch that the community named him Stormy. Once animal control officers were able to open the manhole cover, the rescue could finally proceed.
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The SPCALA said rescuers placed a humane trap inside the drain and, after seven hours of work, safely brought the kitten out.
Why does it matter?
A kitten trapped underground for weeks would have faced serious dangers, including dehydration, starvation, injury, and severe stress.
A sealed entry point slowed the rescue, a challenge that can arise when animals become trapped in hard-to-access infrastructure even when their location is known. The SPCALA noted in the release that even tracking down who owned the manhole was a tricky process.
Local residents gave Stormy a fighting chance by compassionately delivering food and water. The rescue shared how animal rescues often involve everyone from attentive neighbors to animal control, the fire department, and even outside contractors to pull off.
What's being done?
Thanks to everyone's hard work, Stormy is getting past the harrowing ordeal.
"After everything this kitten endured, Stormy is doing remarkably well," SPCALA President Madeline Bernstein said in the release. "He was frightened and disoriented, but he appears healthy, strong, and ready for a fresh start."
Stormy is available for adoption at the SPCALA South Bay Pet Adoption Center in Hawthorne, giving one family the chance to turn his rescue into a permanent home.
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