Firefighters in Michigan used a vacuum cleaner with a sock on the end of the nozzle to rescue a six-hour-old kitten which had become trapped down a home’s drain. It’s thought the kitten’s mother had climbed behind the kitchen sink to give birth. Rescuers used a camera to locate the kitten before using the vacuum cleaner to pull it to safety.
Saginaw resident Jessica Barnes called Shannon Pine of nonprofit Undercover Angels Animal Rescue of Saginaw, asking for help in getting the kitten out of the drainpipe on her property. Shannon and a few of her staff members went to the residence and located the kitten, estimated to be 7 to 10 feet down the pipe and trapped,
Pine and her staff worked for about five hours to rescue the kitten, though their efforts were fruitless, she said. They reached out to Kanicki, who sent two of her officers to the location to help. Unfortunately, they did not have the necessary equipment to free the kitten.
Saginaw Fire Department Capt. James Fourman contacted his colleagues and a crew from Station 2 responded to the scene.
“We could hear it but couldn’t see it,” said Lt. Ray Tanner, who was in command of the crew on scene. “We tried putting some ropes and bedsheets down there to see if it would claw onto those, but it wouldn’t.”
Eventually, the firefighters used an industrial vacuum and pushed two connected sections of hose down the pipe. With the industrial vacuum’s suction, the hose latched onto the kitten and firefighters hoisted the little animal out of the pipe and back to ground level.