This female kitten was rescued from a storm drain in front of the Harn Museum of Art on the University of Florida campus Sunday.
FLORIDA – A tiny ginger kitten trapped in a storm drain in front of the University of Florida Harn Museum of Art was rescued on Sunday by authorities thanks largely to social media.
According to Patricia Diskant, president of the Helping Hands Pet Rescue board of directors, community members were first alerted to reports of a kitten who had become trapped in a storm drain outside of UF’s Harn Museum of Art through a Facebook community named Gainesville Pet Finder.
“It’s amazing how the community comes together through social media,” she went on to say.
Diskant said she first saw a shared post taken from a Craigslist post on the Facebook community page.
Meanwhile, local resident Leila Lohmann saw the post and immediately alerted authorities to the situation as she drove to the site to see if she could offer any help, Diskant said.
Gainesville Fire Rescue Lt. Chase Prince said they were notified around 9 a.m. and removed the cat from the drain just less than a half hour later. He also said officials are not quite sure how the cat got trapped or how long it had been there.
Police gave the kitten to Lohmann and she passed the feline on to Helping Hands, which, in addition to arranging for a foster home, already gave the kitten a bath, flea prevention and vaccines.
“She’s eating and she’s playing,” said Diskant of the unnamed female kitten, which she estimates is approximately 5 weeks old.
“She has a little bit of weight to gain, but I think she’s going to do really well.”
