BUFFALO, N.Y. — In 25 years as a volunteer firefighter, Patrick Boyle has never been part of an animal rescue. Monday night, he and about dozen others from the Eggertsville Hose Company worked for over an hour to save a stray kitten that mysteriously got herself stuck in the storm drain. The rescue scene began to unfold around 8 o'clock, when the neighborhood children were outside playing and heard the kitten's meowing.
"We had no idea whose cat it was, we checked with all the neighborhood people who were out here at that point, and nobody was familiar with the cat," Doyle said.
After trying several methods and trying to get the kitten to move to two different storm drains on the street so she could be pulled out, they were finally able to coax her to the opening with some sardines from one of the neighbors. Doyle was the one who pulled the kitten to safety. He held her in his arms until the SPCA arrived. The SPCA is now calling the kitten Patricia, in honor of her rescuer. She is recovering in an incubator and will be moving to a foster family soon.
Doyle says his family is hoping to adopt her permanently.
"You never know if it's up to my wife, that's probably going to happen. So, we'll see," he told 2 On Your Side.