A tale of a wet, dirty kitty

February 14, 2008
WESTON - It was the stereotypical firefighters-try-to-rescue-cat story, but
with a twist.

Firefighters from the South Florida city of Weston spent a sopping hour in
pouring rain Tuesday trying to extract a kitten squeezed in the
undercarriage of a stranger's Volvo. The crew tried jacking up the car and
taking off a wheel, all for naught. The feline ducked out of reach at each
attempt to grab it.

At some point, the cat escaped undetected, prompting the crew to spend
another hour peering in bushes and scouring a Walgreens parking lot.
They finally gave up and headed back to the station, answering at least two
more calls on their way.

Five hours after the saga began, the elusive cat reappeared: At the station,
in their fire truck's rear wheel well.

This time, firefighters used chunks of meatloaf to try luring it out. It was
not enticed, so the crew resorted to an ultimately successful three-pronged
strategy: One firefighter poked the feline in the backside with a Slim Jim,
another used a hose to force it into an open compartment so a third person
could pull it out. The feline was dirty but unharmed.