NAPLES, FLA. (WSVN) — It was a perfect rescue as a community called for backup.
“When you hear that cat crying like that, nothing, it’s like a baby crying,” Laurie Bruckmann said. “You just can’t say no.”
Cries for help had neighbors rallying to rescue a cat stuck underground in Naples.
“It’s an animal. You got to do it, absolutely,” Mark Rathbun said. “I mean, it’s Christmas time, the poor cat’s crying, you know you want to, you want to, you want to save one of God’s creatures.”
Rathbun’s birthday was Wednesday, and he spent it in a manhole.
“It’s curiosity. We had all the neighbors out, and with the help of everybody across the street, here there, I mean, we had maybe 15 people,” Rathbun said. “We were all together trying to get this cat out of here.”
That required calling in the county and digging up the road.
“The cat was actually sitting on top of a pipe, and as soon as the concrete came up, it just jumped, and I grabbed it,” said Marshal Miller, Superintendent of Road Maintenance Collier County.
It was just in the nick of time.
The cat, named Mistletoe, was adopted by one of the residents.
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