SASKATOON – “We get some weird things in recycling, live animals usually isn’t one of them.”
So you can just imagine the look on employees’ faces and the heart pounding moments afterward when a cat jumped out from underneath a box being processed at Loraas Recycle after he narrowly escaped with his life a few times over.
Officials with the company say they don’t know how this little black kitty they’ve named “Spooky” got into a blue recycling bin but it’s from Saskatoon and ended up in their care around 10 o’clock Thursday morning after curiosity literally almost killed the cat.
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“He would have been collected by the truck, dumped into the truck and then survived compaction,” said Ryan Buhay, community relations coordinator with Loraas Recycle.
The next stop for Spooky after his cat nap gone wrong, the sorting facility where what could have happened next would have been a catastrophe but he lived to tell the tale. The 1st Avenue North location is where the cat entered the advanced single stream sorting process and been dumped onto the facility’s tip floor along with a huge pile of recycling.
“Some how he survived all that then survived the loader grabbing a scoop of that material then putting into a machine called the drum feeder which it’s amazing that he survived it,” said Buhay.
“It’s got this gigantic spinning wheel of big 12-inch blades on it but somehow he made it through and ended up on a conveyor belt and fed into the pre-sort station.”
The employees got the shock of their lives after moving a cardboard box with Spooky underneath it.
“He was not hurt, he was a little dusty and that’s it.”
If Spooky hadn’t landed on his own two (four) feet, here’s what would have happened:
A report has been filed with the Saskatoon SPCA and Spooky doesn’t have a micro-chip. He is approximately six months old, out-going and not neutered.
If you think he is your cat, you’re asked to Loraas Recycle to call 242-2300 or by contacting them through the company’s website.
“He’s pretty sweet, I’m pretty attached to him already,” said Buhay.
Buhay adds while Spooky is maybe a little short of nine lives at this point, “That journey was 8.5, he’s got a half left so he’s staying safe on my couch with me.”
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