Kitten rescued from Modbury property by RSPCA, good Samaritans

The faint, pained cries of a tiny kitten alerted passers-by to its precarious predicament, but it was sheer luck - and generosity - that saw it rescued from disaster.

The failing cries of a kitten was a last-ditch attempt at calling for help, one of its rescuers says, after it became trapped in a sewer.

It is estimated the tiny kitten was trapped in the pipe at a Modbury home for about five days, and when it was eventually recovered it was covered in raw sewerage, emaciated, and starving.

The desperate rescue attempt saw the convergence of generosity, kindness and sheer luck as Salisbury plumbing group Spruyt Plumbing answered a social media call-out for help.

That group, owned by Victor and Karen Spruyt, raced to the rescue, sending a camera down the pipes to try and located the kitten before it was too late.

Mrs Spruyt said the couple was inspired to help out by their love for animals.

RSPCA officer Chloe with Karen and Victor Spruyt, and the lucky kitten. Picture: Supplied

And it was their love combined with experience that saw the kitten eventually dragged from the pipe by an RSPCA officer about four hours later.

“Vic first had to try to locate where the kitten was and initially thought it was in the storm water so used his drain camera to try to find in,” Mrs Spruyt said.

“After several attempts in different locations we still couldn’t locate it.

“We could hear the kitten and realised it was actually in the sewer and not the stormwater, so Vic opened up the sewer main and thankfully he was correct.

“It was so frightened but with some gentle persuasion from Chloe from RSPCA, she was able to grab him before he fell into the bottom of the sewer.”

A kitten was rescued from a sewer by a generous plumber alerted by a concerned couple. Picture: Supplied

The kitten was taken to the vet for check ups. Picture: Supplied

The call-out to the Spruyts and the RSPCA came after wildlife rescuer Sheryl Smith was alerted to the awful situation, which she was working about five houses away from.

“The kitten had been missing for five days and a neighbour heard it crying in a drain down the side of a house,” Ms Smith said.

“We were there for four hours trying to get it out because we couldn’t actually located where it was.

“We could just heard this pitiful cry and when we heard it crying I knew that was ‘the death cry’ and it was only a few hours before that baby would be dead.

Ms Smith said when the kitten was eventually located the rescue mission became even more complex as it teetered on the edge of falling further down the drain to the point it would be beyond recovery.

But some kind words from the RSPCA officer to coax the kitten into trusting them saw it slink slowly into her hands before she pulled it from the pipe.

“It could hear us talking and it started to move towards where we were, but it was just about to fall down another part of the drain when Chloe just grabbed it,” she said.

After the rescue, the kitten was taken by the RSPCA to a vet where it was given antibiotics and a check over.

It remains with the RSPCA.