BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - The staff of a hotel in Bournemouth were involved in a rescue attempt after a surprise guest spent the night trapped inside a car.

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A weeks-old kitten was rescued from inside the undertray of a car which belonged to a guest staying at the Orchid Hotel in Gervis Road.

The hotel’s night porter discovered the black and white kitten, which had been left orphaned after a fox had killed its mother the previous evening.

Looking for shelter, the kitten climbed into the rear of the car and took refuge behind the undertray, becoming stuck.

The RSPCA was alerted and arrived the scene to assist. However, lacking car part expertise, the team was not able to free the kitten on their own.

They left the scene, leaving behind a cage for whoever was able to rescue the wee one.

In order to get some good advice from a car expert, staff called Ravenscroft Motors to alert a Green Flag technician. When he arrived, he assessed the entire situation and was able to come up with a plan to free the kitten.

After removing components from underneath the rear of the car, he was then able to rescue it.

However, as soon as the kitten was free, it disappeared under the front of the car and and went into the engine bay, as hotel manager Andy Padgett explained.

“Ironically, we found it stuck underneath the catalytic converter of the car,” he stated.

The technician was forced to repeat the entire process under the engine cover and eventually eased the kitten out of the car.

Andy said that the rescue attempt took a total of 30 hours.

Now named Smokey, the kitten is in the care of the RSPCA. The hotel’s receptionist, Rosie, is hoping to adopt it.

“It’s a really cute, sweet-looking cat. It was a bit shaky when we got it out, but Rosie put it in her jumper to keep it warm. The RSPCA said it was in really good condition,” he added.

Following such an unusual call-out for a Green Flag technician, the company’s managing director was also made aware of the situation.

Candace Gerlach, head of marketing at Green Flag, stated: “Smokey’s story is not the sort of rescue service that our technicians face every day – however, it’s one we’re proud to be involved in.”

The technician, whose name is a mystery, added: “The poor thing was well and truly stuck. We had to work fast to remove all of the parts without causing it any more distress, which we managed to do successfully.”

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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI —A mother cat who was injured accidentally last week by a chain saw is on the mend.

Great Plains SPCA posted on its Facebook page that the cat, named Ramona, was sheltering her newborn kittens in pampas grass when a man trimming the grass with a chain saw accidentally hit her and also one of her kittens.

Shelter workers said the man had no idea that the animals were nestled in the grass. He gathered them up and took them to a veterinary clinic.

Great Plains said Ramona’s right front leg had to be amputated.

Ramona and her babies, including the one who was grazed by the chain saw, are now in foster care and are doing well.

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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - “Blaze,” as he’s been dubbed by the staff at Richmond Animal Care and Control, was rescued on Thursday after a fire broke out at an apartment in east Richmond.

Firefighters were called shortly before 11 a.m. to a fire at an apartment at 3526 E. Richmond Road. Crews found two small fires in the home and quickly extinguished them, said Lt. Chris Armstrong of the Richmond Fire Department.

No one was home at the time of the fire, but firefighters found a cat suffering from smoke inhalation in the apartment. Firefighters treated the cat by sing a pet resuscitation mask, Armstrong said.

The cat was then taken to Richmond Animal Care and Control until his owner can be located. A spokesman said the cat was given a thorough bath and is in good condition.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire, Armstrong said.

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Back on 9th January 2015, a starving stray kitten was found on a busy highway in Belize, Central America. Bruised and bloody, his jaw was completely broken and he was almost starved to death.

A young woman noticed the poor creature as she drove past him in her car. Without a moment’s hesitation, she got out of her car, picked him up and brought him into her car. As the kitten sat down in her passenger seat, he let out a very soft meow as if to say, “Thank you.”

The kind-hearted commuter took him immediately to the nearest veterinary clinic where he would finally receive the urgent medical care he needed so desperately.

The original diagnosis didn’t look good. Smeagol, as she’d named him, was in a very critical state. He weighed much less than 450 grams and his jaw was broken. The vets said that he was sadly too weak for them to operate, and advised putting the kitten to sleep…

But his rescuer wasn’t going to give up on him, and after 6 weeks of antibiotics for his jaw, Smeagol did finally did manage to recover.

His jaw was still a little crooked, but he was able eat and was no longer suffering.

The young woman took him home and gave him all the love in the world that he was once so cruelly been denied.

One year later, and Smeagol is doing very well! He has his own Facebook page and Instagram account now where his mum shares all his little moments of happiness.

What a transformation indeed!

Follow Smeagol_puss on Facebook!

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CANADA - A cat who was stuck for four days up a high voltage power pole in Princeton, B.C., has finally been saved.

The owner spotted the one-year old tabby on Monday morning 18 metres up and had been trying to coax it down ever since.

Bill Backhall, the cat’s owner, said it was “a desperate situation,” with vultures and also a raven flying nearby.

He thought his cat had been scared by something and chased up the pole by another cat in his rural neighbourhood.

Video of the little ginger-and-white cat showed it in severe distress, meowing loudly. Mattresses had been placed around the bottom of the pole in case it fell.

Blackhall had been trying since some time Monday to convince BC Hydro to rescue his cat, but the utility said it would be a tricky job.

According to BC Hydro, specialized equipment was needed on this particular site because the lines near the cat were carrying 138,000 volts of electricity.

Big thanks to our crews who arrived to #savetheprincetonbccat, now safe & sound with owner. pic.twitter.com/dH6wuFxfqQ

— BC Hydro (@bchydro) April 15, 2024

A persistent social media campaign calling for BC Hydro do something gained a great deal of momentum, and even local MP Dan Albas took to Twitter demanding action.

Usually handled by private citizen or fire dept but because it's a power pole only @bchydro can help-so please help! https://t.co/BNdtvzVW8a

— Dan Albas (@DanAlbas) April 14, 2024

Finally on Thursday, BC Hydro tweeted out the information that a crew based in Salmon Arm, nearly 300 kilometres away, was on its way to make the rescue.

Looking at every possible option to safely rescue the cat in #PrincetonBC. Challenging situation as it's very high up (approx. 60 feet) 1/2

— BC Hydro (@bchydro) April 14, 2024

Dag Sharman, a spokesman for BC Hydro, said that it might be able to rescue the cat without having to shut off off the power, especially since it feeds into a mine in the area.

He said it’s not uncommon that animals climb up top power poles, but 99 percent of the time they come down on their own and usually it’s not one of these tall high-voltage transmission poles.

As for why the crew came from such a far distance, BC Hydro says it doesn’t have customers in the area.

Blackhall said his orange tabby will not be an indoor cat, once she was rescued.

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