The cat fell into the ventilation shaft, the rescue operation lasted all day

“The cat survived in good health and we handed it over to the happy owner,” announced Vendula Matějů, spokesperson for the South Bohemian fire department. It was already Saturday night, shortly after eight in the morning, when the mission began, it did not look so optimistic.

The plan, which was to lower the curtain and let the cat claw itself, failed. “She didn’t cooperate, so we tried to run an animal trap down her pipe. But Číča probably had enough. She was still lying motionless on the bottom,” stated Matějů. Another strategy used didn’t work either. “We tried to entice her with food and treats. So that she gets into the net. But she didn’t react to anything at all,” noted Matějů.

Then the firefighters tried to drive her into the net using various wires. “But as it was deep, the pipe and the whole space was very cramped, we almost didn’t even see it, so even this attempt was quite difficult and above all futile,” admitted Matějů.

For example, the rescuers turned to the animal breeding center in Hluboká nad Vltavou with a request to see if they had any means of saving the animal. “But all of those offered were not successful anyway,” summarized Matějů. In the end, the good old Czech ability to improvise won out. “We made a kind of grappling hook ourselves and gradually screwed it together onto a thirteen meter long shaft. Only with this uniquely made prototype ‘lifeline’ did we manage to pull the cat out after about an hour, it was already getting dark,” concluded Vendula Matějů.

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