WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Two kittens are recovering after quite an ordeal. They became trapped after falling eight feet down through a pipe. It took a lot of helping hands and a little ingenuity overnight to rescue the baby cats. “We just kept trying and trying,” said Tracey Morgan-Chopick who owns Luzerne County Pet Recovery Services. You can credit dogged determination with saving the lives of these two cats. The curious kittens got into a world of trouble two days earlier when they managed to crawl through a sewer vent pipe attached to an apartment building on New Mallery Place in Wilkes-Barre.
Animal rescue groups became aware of the kitty crisis Wednesday night and showed up on the scene around 11 o’clock. “We went down the basement to try and get in through the basement but we realized we couldn’t get in because they were stuck in the pipe,” said Mrs. Morgan-Chopick. A photo shows one of the kittens in the pipe that extended about ten feet across and eight feet down where the kittens had fallen. Animal rescuers tried lassoing the critters but all they got was feline frustration. Brenda Buckler who is president of Whiskers World Inc. said, “They’re two breathing animals that are crying for help stuck in a cast iron pipe. They needed help.”
A call to Roto-Rooter resulted in a worker using a specialized camera and light to snake the device through the pipe and spot the trapped kittens. Next came a recipe for rescue success. “We put food inside a cheese cloth, tied that to the rope and then we tied an onion bag over that and then we soaked it in food and we put that down,” said Mrs. Morgan-Chopick. Her husband, Jeff Chopick, aided in the rescue. “As you’re trying, you’re trying and trying, and eventually the cat got on and then we were able to pull the first one out. It was such a great feeling.”
The other feline sibling took another 20 minutes before tasting freedom… four hours after the efforts of some good-hearted people answered their meows for help. “I know everybody thinks they’re ferals but right now we save two cats that are not going to be ferrals,” said Whiskers World Inc. Vice President Donna Fountain. From here, the kittens will go into a foster home before they eventualy find their ‘fur-ever’ home.
