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WILKES-BARRE — It was an intense rescue that started around 8 p.m. Wednesday and went past 4 a.m. Thursday before those trapped were recovered.
Brought to safety, finally, were two kittens that had become trapped in a sewage vent pipe in an apartment building on New Mallery Place.
According to Brenda Buckler, owner of Whiskers World, a non-profit organization that does trap-and-release of mostly feral cats, several people worked all night to rescue the kittens. Buckler and her business partner, Donna Fountain, were at the scene the entire time. They were assisted by Dave Mickle, a service technician for Roto Rooter, and Tracey Morgan-Chopick and her husband Jeff, of Luzerne County Pet Services.
Buckler said she got the call around 8 p.m. that two kittens were trapped in a cast-iron pipe. She said the kittens had walked to an elbow in the piping and fell about 10 feet where they became stuck.
When Buckler and Fountain got to the scene, they realized they were going to need assistance. They called several plumbers and found Mickle, who was on-call for Roto Rooter.
Mickle arrived with a camera that enabled them to see where the kittens were stuck in the pipe.
“God love that man (Mickle),” Buckler said. “He stayed with us until 4 a.m. He said he wasn’t leaving until we got the kittens out safely.”
Once the kittens were located, Buckler said they tried several methods to get the kittens out. She said they wrapped cat food in cheesecloth and used a mesh onion sack.
“One at a time, the cats grabbed onto the bag and we pulled them up,” she said.
Buckler said the kittens were taken to Blue Chip Farm in Franklin Township for foster care. She said they will be available for adoption in about three weeks.
During the long rescue, Buckler said the mother cat was pacing around near the site. Buckler said she intends to return to the area to trap the mother and have her spayed.
Jennifer Starr, racing marketing manager at Mohegan Sun Pocono, heard about the situation through friends. She said the building owner was out of town and unavailable to get permission to cut the pipes to allow easier access. Starr said the kittens were trapped for more than two days.
Starr and her friend, Jessica Lyons Benjamin, found another kitten trapped in a tree on Tuesday morning.
“After over an hour of trying to reach this one kitten, and playing meowing sounds from my phone, I was able to grab the little calico, who was dirty and hungry, but so happy to be saved,” Starr said. “She was surrendered to Whiskers World.”
On Wednesday, Starr received a message that Benjamin had heard kittens trapped in a pipe leading from the foundation of her neighboring building, which contains four apartments.
“She once again asked if I could help,” Starr said. “I stopped over, along with countless neighbors, who tried everything from a vacuum cleaner hose with a sticky mouse trap on the end; to a long bed sheet, hoping they would grab on, but we had no idea where they were or how far down they were. The pipe led to a concrete floor in the basement. I posted on Facebook for help from a plumber, thinking someone would help with a snake and a camera, but no one came to our aid.”
Starr then contacted Valerie Storz-Searfoss, who does cat rescues, and she reached out to Whiskers World and Tracy Morgan-Chopick from Luzerne County Pet Recovery Services, who came to help.
The group of rescuers ultimately made the decision to call and pay for Roto-Rooter to retrieve the kittens from the pipe. They later learned the kittens were 13 feet down.
The group has set up a fundraiser to try to cover the cost of the Roto Router bill — about $364 for use of the camera (Mickle volunteered his labor) — and the kittens’ vet bills.
