Five kittens were rescued by some of the volunteers of the Shuswap Paws Rescue Society from Salmon Arm’s Industrial Park.
On May 11, the team was called to a building where they had to tear apart a wall, rip up some flooring and perform a daring rescue with a wire to save all the emaciated kittens.
“We realized with the plywood out the way the third kitten had dropped down about 10 feet down a slot about three inches wide,” said Pat Haddad, Shuswap Paws Rescue Society volunteer.
“There was a bunch of wire up there, I cut the pieces and made a noose and started fishing for that baby kitten and managed to get him after about 10 tries. When it came up out of that shoot we were so happy we were just delirious with joy. We were just high giving and dancing around it was amazing.”
Now the kittens are being cared for in a foster home until they are ready to be adopted out.
Founder of the society Barb Gosselin estimates that they have saved about 150 cats this year.
“We have a very large feral cat problem (in the Shuswap) because we are more rural,” said Gosselin.
“There’s a lot of barn cats that have kittens and unfortunately the cost of spay and neuter locally is quite expensive. So we need more spay and neuter, or trap neuter release programs for the feral population.”
To volunteer, donate or adopt any of the kittens or their foster felines e-mail shuswappaws@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page.