Meowed to safety (Illustration)
Photo: Dalit Shacham
Curiosity saved the cat
Veterinary services inspector manages to rescue cat that stumbled into drainage pit by using 'meow' ring-tone on his cell-phone
In case of emergency, play ring-tone: An inspector with the Gush Dan Veterinary Services succeeded in rescuing a cat that had fallen into a drainage pit Monday, by tempting it with cat cries emitted by his mobile phone.
"Cats who fall into the drainage pit openings on the sides of the road have no way of getting out," explained Dr. Moshe Rafaelovich, head of the Gush Dan Veterinary Services. "Usually the cats that fall into the shafts find their deaths down there. Sometimes people hear them yowling from down there and call us in to rescue them.
Our inspectors call the cat, tempt it to come closer to the opening, and then capture and rescue it. Sometimes we use food traps that are lowered in, and when the cat gets caught inside we pull it out of the hole."
On Monday the inspectors were called in to rescue a cat that had fallen into a drainage pit in Givatayim. The cat refused to come near the opening, and even the food trap didn't tempt it. The inspector decided to improvise, and placed a mobile phone playing a ring-tone of a cat meowing near the opening.
A few minutes later, the cat had became curious enough to venture towards the opening, and the inspector managed to tackle it and pull it out of the pit. The cat was then inspected by a veterinarian and found to be in sound health, though it may still be wondering, what kind of cat comes equipped with a screen and an antennae?
