Cat saved by a flush (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Cat saved by a flush

A CAT is recovering at home after firefighters flushed it from a 50ft drain, where it had taken refuge after being struck by a car.

The unusual rescue took place in the village of Norton Bavant, near Warminster, on Sunday morning after the cat's owners called on the fire brigade for help in getting it to a vet.

Following the accident on Thursday, the cat had limped into a water drain connecting Boreham Road to a nearby field.

When the fire crew from Warminster arrived, firefighters shone torches into the drain and saw the cat halfway along. Station Officer Chris Trimby said: "Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and that cat needed flushing out.

"We attached a hose to a fire hydrant in the village and slowly pumped water into the drain. The aim was to make the cat feel uncomfortable. It took about 10 minutes for the water to reach the cat and slowly but surely we forced it to the end of the drain and out into the field."