Police rescue kitten from Medford storm drain
Suffolk County Officer Peter Cunneen, of the police emergency services unit, brings a carrier with a cat out of a storm drain in Medford on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014. The cat had been trapped in the drain. Credit: James Carbone
A Medford kitten got a new lease on its nine lives Sunday when an alert neighbor and Suffolk County police rescued the feline from a 10-foot storm drain.
Kathy Hatton, 49, of Medford, said she had heard the cat meowing for about two days when she went to check a neighbor's backyard Sunday morning.
As she walked by, she heard the crying coming from below. She looked down and found the roughly 6-month-old kitten curled up at the bottom of the storm drain.
Hatton had seen the cat around the neighborhood and believed it was a stray. She called Suffolk County police Emergency Services and the animal control officers with the county's SPCA.
"I can't believe how everybody came out for it," Hatton said. "I have faith in humanity again."
The storm drain was about 10 to 12-feet deep. Police said they thought neighbors had been feeding the cat.
Two Suffolk County police officers arrived within an hour and used a ladder to climb into the storm drain to rescue the kitten. Hatton loaned officers a cage, and then turned the kitten over to Suffolk SPCA officers.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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