A kitten recently survived being trapped underground for more than a year – living off food and water fed to it by a concerned elderly Chinese woman – has been rescued just after the story sparked huge social media interest, a mainland news portal reports.
The frightened animal – now a full grown cat – was finally rescued by a team of workmen coaxed it out from behind pipes by making “meow” calls for 30 minutes last Saturday, Thepaper.cn reported on Monday.
However, rather than showing any gratitude for its great release – the animal immediately ran off once it saw daylight – even too fast for the moment to be photographed by onlookers.
He Huifen, 60, who lives in Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, first heard the cat calling for help last May from inside a covered roadside pit which was used for housing power cables.
She managed to partially move one of the four heavy concrete covers which were over the hole, but was unable to reach the frightened animal trapped inside.
Twice every day since, she had returned to pour water and drop bits of food into the pit to help the animal survive.
The underground hole had been built as part of pipeline construction work that was carried out in the area.
The story of the woman’s daily devotion eventually attracted social media attention and led to calls for help in rescuing the animal, the news portal reported.
Just last Friday a 30-year-old woman living in the area rang the power company to help.
A team of about 10 workers removed one of the heavy covers and, after making some “meow” calls to attract the frightened animal for half an hour, the animal finally showed its face – only to make a rapid dash to freedom once it got outside.
