A kitten that was trapped deep inside a drainpipe for seven long hours was rescued by the SPCA and local firefighters in Epping this week.

The SPCA, based in Grassy Park, shared the news online, describing how its officials and rescue personnel from the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service worked hard, using specialised camera equipment to navigate the pipe, to determine exactly where the kitten was trapped. Rescuers refused to give up, their statement reads. “Hour after hour, the rescue continued.”

He was small, frightened and completely out of reach, but leaving him behind was never an option. The animal was eventually retrieved after an exhausting seven-hour long operation, the SPCA said.

The organisation named the kitten Lucky.

Medical care

The kitten was immediately taken for an urgent medical examination, and given the warmth, care and attention he so desperately needed. Despite everything that had been done to save him, sadly, Lucky’s condition took a turn for the worse, and he unfortunately did not make it, the organisation reported.

The SPCA said however the seven-hour long rescue was not in vain.

“It is difficult to accept an ending like this after so many people fought so hard to bring him to safety.

“Lucky did not spend his final hours frightened, alone and trapped inside a cold, dark pipe,” they noted, “instead he passed away in a warm bed, safe, cared for and surrounded by people who had fought for him.”

The organisation thanked all of the role-players involved in the rescue operation, including the Fire and Rescue Service, the Tygerberg Animal Hospital (TAH) as well as the South African Animal Welfare Inspectorate Association, a non-profit company. It acknowledged everyone involved, from those who carried out the painstaking rescue to those who provided urgent medical care, had given the tiny kitten a chance he would not otherwise have had.

“Sometimes, rescue does not give us the ending we desperately hope for, sometimes it means making sure that even when a life cannot be saved, that life knows kindness before the end,” the SPCA said.

The SPCA also thanked its own team, who gave so much of themselves during Lucky’s rescue and who are saddened by his passing.

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