NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A kitten was pulled to safety by a Broward County Sheriff’s deputy after spending days trapped in the undercarriage of a hot car.
“I’ve always been one to do everything, to the best that I could do it– cat, person, you know whatever it is. In our job, we just do what we do because it’s our job,” said Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy Anthony Galizia.
The rescue was finalized Tuesday, but the rescue mission began Monday morning.
Sounds of distress could be heard coming from an abandoned Mercedes-Benz near Morrow Elementary in North Lauderdale.
Teachers made videos and asked for help on social media.
“There’s a cat stuck inside the car,” said Emanise Mirthil as the cat is heard in the background.
“You could hear the crying it was just so… it was heartbreaking,” said Mirthi, a Morrow Elementary teacher.
“And then we started making our calls from there. We called the sheriff’s office, fire rescue and the city of North Lauderdale,” said school resource officer Richard McQuestion.
There were several failed attempts to save the cat, but finally Tuesday morning, deputy Galizia got involved.
“It was just a matter of OK this is the problem, this is what we gotta do, how are we gonna try and do it, and let’s see if we can get a good result out of it,” said Galizia.
“The officer was absolutely amazing. He was just not letting go of the kitten,” said Morrow Elementary teacher Elisa Valentin.
With the help of city workers and others, Galizia spent more than two hours under a hot car. He lathered up with dish soap in hopes to help the cat slide to safety. The cat’s head was stuck in a small space, but eventually, they were able to rescue him.
“The head part was definitely tough, and when it finally came out, I was so ecstatic,” said Galizia.
The cat was transported to Broward County Animal Care where they determined he is a 6-week-old male kitten, and they’ve given him the name Benz.
“We threw around a few names, maybe Beamer, but we figured out it was actually a Mercedes, so he’s Benz to us,” said Emily Wood, director of Animal Care and Adoption of Broward County.
Despite having a rough few days, Benz is doing well after the group effort from faculty and staff of Morrow Elementary, a deputy and city workers.
Galizia said he wasn’t about to give up and that this rescue will stick with him.
“It’s up there ’cause I’m very happy that I was able to do that, and not only free the cat and let it live, I made a whole bunch of people happy, and it’s a side of us that nobody ever really gets to see,” said Galizia.
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