Cat and dog rescue from Tornado Alley after the deadliest tornadoes in history

The world has read about the deadliest tornadoes in history at a location in central America called Tornado Alley where they are most frequent. Kentucky is in Tornado Alley. We've seen the pictures of flattened houses. Utterly destroyed. Homeless people. Ninety-four people confirmed dead across six states. It has been described as one of the largest storm outbreaks in history devastating the Midwest and South.

Cat and dog rescue from Tornado Alley after the deadliest tornadoes in history. Photo: Zak Bennett for the Daily Mail.

They believe that 30 tornadoes ripped through Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas. It is now time to pick up the pieces in respect of companion animals.

Fortuitously, and perhaps remarkably, the Mayfield-Graves County Animal Shelter in Kentucky withstood the tornadoes and remains standing which is why they have had a huge influx of animals displaced by the catastrophe.

There are hundreds of injured animals and displaced pets at the shelter currently. They decided to move a little over 100 animals to other rescue organisations to make more room. They been taken to Massachusetts for adoption. Specifically they been taken to shelters in Boston, Methuen, Centerville and Cape Cod.

These animals were taken to Massachusetts before the tornado struck in preparation for the projected large influx of displaced pets after the tornadoes.

Volunteers do vital work in cat and dog rescue. Photo: Zak Bennett for the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail newspaper online say that they 'got a first look' at the displaced animals being held in crates waiting for their owners to pick them up. It appears that they will also remove some of these animals to Massachusetts and other states to cope with the ongoing influx.

I'm told that they are micro-chipping the animals. The idea behind that is that when their owner returns to pick them up they can properly keep track and identify them at the reunion. I think it's a way of identifying and managing the large number of rescued animals so that they can keep a handle on where they are and what is happening.

They expect to take in more animals in the coming days. David Spalding, Board President of the Mayfield County Animal Shelter spoke to DailyMail.com. He said that the animals don't have a place to go back to but they are out there amongst the carnage. He thinks it'll take awhile for them to calm down and come out at which time they will become visible. This will allow volunteers to catch them and bring them to the shelter.

Spalding said that he was overwhelmed but was managing. He said that he has not slept that much.

Kat Rooks, the Initiatives Director at the Kentucky Humane Center, was in one of the three vans that left Louisville to pick up 27 dogs and a cats from the Mayfield shelter (see photo at top of page). She said that it would take a long time to recover, remarking:

"Animals are coming in surrendered by good Samaritans. Animals coming in as strays. [Workers] are going out and assisting search-and-rescue teams and helping to remove animals from properties that have been devastated. They are already seeing an influx and expect that to continue. There were a lot of tears on Saturday. These are my friends, people that I know, I work with closely. People that I know lost everything there."

A black cat saved from the wheel well of a truck by customs agents

A black cat saved from the wheel well of a truck by customs agents and now with Cat Advocacy and Rescue Association - CARA. Nice photo and great cat rescue:

Earlier this afternoon, this very lucky kitty was rescued from the wheel well of a truck by customs agents. She is claiming refugee status and is being taken home by one of the agents! Such a lucky kitty!!

Posted by Cat Advocacy and Rescue Association - CARA on Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Here is a still photo from the FB post. This needs to be here to provide a 'featured image'.

A black cat saved from the wheel well of a truck by customs agents. Said black cat with a worker from CARA - Cat Advocacy and Rescue Association - CARA.

33 people recovered this cat from a tree

Perhaps this is the largest number of people who have rescued a cat from a tree. I'd be surprised if there was another instance in which more people were involved. Hank, an 18 month-old bicolour, ginger tabby normally spends his days in the backyard in a north-east Washington home. Sometimes he enjoys wandering into the garden of nuns who live in the same block reports The Washington Post.

Delores Bushong, who lives in Northeast, hugs her cat Hank after he was rescued from a tree in her neighbor's yard. (Courtesy of Humane Rescue Alliance)

Hank's owner is Dolores Bushong, 74. She adopted him from a rescue centre in the Shenandoah Valley area and has lived in north-east Washington for 30 years. She was amazed at the number of people who came to help.

"It really required a lot of people coming together and trying an incredible number of different things to get Hank out of that tree."

She said it was very frustrating to feel impotent when you love a cat as much as she does after Hank became stuck in a tree for five days with no food or water.

The 33 volunteers included strangers, animal rescue volunteers, friends and neighbours who tried half a dozen different ways to rescue him using baskets, catnip and tall ladders.

Hank got stuck on November 6 of this year (2021). Delores became worried when she called him and there was no response. It got dark and she began to worry some more. Then she heard Hank crying and looked up! She couldn't believe that he climbed a tree because he had never climb one before. Especially one so high.

She believes that Hank became scared of the neighbour's dogs and darted up the tree to escape. The Humane Rescue Alliance took the lead in his recovery. They called the DC Fire Department. They said they couldn't get up the tree with their ladders. Delores then called a construction company enquiring about renting scaffolding but she was told that she would have to book 48 days in advance. She couldn't rent a tall ladder because it was too expensive and difficult to organise.

She then called Casey Trees where she happens to be a volunteer and they sent an expert who said that it wasn't safe to climb up the tree because the branches were not sturdy enough.

One volunteer who turned up suggested that she call the owner of a nearby pest control business which they knew had a tall ladder. The owner of the business Ijeoma Maduforo-Barry said that she could use her 42-foot tall ladder.

Maduforo-Barry said that she had a soft heart and wanted to make sure that the rescue took place successfully. One neighbour produced a can of sardines to try and entice him down. That didn't work. After five days word had got around about the failed rescue attempts.

The customer care team at the Humane Rescue Allowance remembered a rope system and a basket with food inside. The idea is that the cat is enticed into the basket and then the basket is lowered to the ground. This particular method can be effective in cases where the cat is very high up.

As it transpired, the ropes and pulley contraption with the basket on the end worked. They also put some of Dolores slippers and some catnip in the basket to attract him. Hank took the bait and jumped in. I think by then he was keen to get down anyway and his senses told him that it was safe to jump in and that it would at last release him from his self-imposed captivity 40 feet in the air.

Guy saves 2 domestic cats living in -6 degrees Celsius and snow

This is the guy who runs the Cole and Marmalade website. He is a cat rescuer. He worked with a woman who is an experienced cat trapper to rescue this couple of abandoned domestic cats from the snow in sub-zero temperatures; the kind of temperatures that can kill or injure e.g. frostbite of the paws.

Clarence in the freezing cold before rescue. Screenshot.

They had to get them into the warm. They succeeded all the way to finding a woman who was prepared to adopt both of them including a full veterinary check up. Fantastic. Clarence is a tabby and Midnight a black cat. They are the kind of cats that might get left on the shelf so to speak but through great teamwork the lives of two cats have been quite possibly saved and homes for them found.

Clarence is warm at last after being trapped and cared for. Screenshot.

The video tells their story really well so no more words are needed.

The cats were domesticated and in good condition. He thinks that they were dumped by their owner or relatives of a deceased owner for example. They are both very nice characters.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Before and after photographs of Mikey a stray cat adopted in the West Midlands of the UK

I always like good before and after photographs of stray cats who have come in from the cold and the wet after adoption and found themselves in a place they can call home, where they should have been in the first place. 

Before and after photographs of Mikey a stray cat adopted in the West Midlands of the UK. Photo: Stray Cat Rescue Team West Midlands (believed).

Before and after photographs of Mikey a stray cat adopted in the West Midlands of the UK. Photo: Stray Cat Rescue Team West Midlands (believed). 

Before and after photographs of Mikey a stray cat adopted in the West Midlands of the UK. Photo: Stray Cat Rescue Team West Midlands (believed).  

These photographs, from the Stray Cat Rescue Team West Midlands, point to a success in cat caregiving but they are built upon failure. Somewhere in Mikey's past things went wrong. 

We don't know what it is. He might have been abandoned by his owner or he might have wondered away from his home. He might have been born in the wild and become feral but that's unlikely because judging by the "after" photograph Mikey was a domestic cat who just happened to be in the wrong place, stuck outside the home. 

That is why he is sopping wet in the "before" photographs. It is also why there is blood on the right side of his face. It appears that he got into a fight. That is the normal way stray cats end up with a bloodied face and broken and torn ears. It is, as the experts say, a harsh existence.

RELATED: Feral Cats Are Healthier and Live Longer Than Thought

But we shouldn't paint all feral and stray cats with the same brush. Sometimes they are well cared for by TNR volunteers. Under a good TNR program feral cats in the colony can live good lives. Sometimes their lives are better than that of a domestic cat.

P.S. The story comes from the FB page of the rescue concerned. Thanks.

Instant love from a cat he found in the woods

A guy found a stray cat in the woods next to his house while he was checking the height of the river. He brought her to his home. She was very affectionate almost immediately. In his words:

"So we've known each other about a half hour. I found her in the woods next to my house while i was checking the river height. She has been this way since."

Instant love from a stray cat the guy found in the woods near his home. Screenshot.

It seems pretty clear that she was abandoned or lost and needed a human companion. People ask if a domestic cat can survive in the wild. The answer is that some can and some can't (for long). But they all need a human caregiver.

Domestic cats are 'trained' to be with humans. This is socialisation to humans. It is why they are domesticated.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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The guy's reward for bringing her home is to make her happy. If you know that you have made a cat happy, it makes you happy because you know that you have done well. And you've increased the sum total of happiness in the animal world.

I suggested that he keep her after checking for a microchip to check ownership. Her health should also be checked out. The usual things that you have to do when finding a domesticated stray cat.

Woman had dreamt of adopting a stray cat and it happened in Walmart. She did great.

She spots a stray kitten in a humungous Walmart. She was told the kitten was abandoned in the car park and had been coming into the store. It seems the abandonment had happened a little while ago. The woman acts positively and quickly without doubts. She'd been dreaming of this moment and it happened. 

"I've always dreamed of this day."

Woman had dreamt of adopting a stray cat and it happened in Walmart. She did great.

Mentally she was attuned to the moment which helped to act correctly and well. The video explains it all. It is a good one; liked 1.3m times. A major success. She had the presence of mind to video the whole process of meeting the kitten and adopting her. Clever and sensible. 👍

@wallyfromthemart

Worker told me this ##kitten was dumped in the ##Walmart parking lot. Kitty keeps sneaking into the Garden Center. I couldn't leave it there. ##fyp

♬ original sound - Wally's rescuer

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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I like the way that she grabbed a can of cat food from the shelf and fed the kitten immediately. She paid for it at the checkout! She bought a cat carrier there and then. No doubts. No prevarication. All action. And successfully.👌

Woman had dreamt of adopting a stray cat and it happened in Walmart. She did great.. Job done. Adopted! 😇

The kitten is quite domesticated. Lovely to see her being  cuddled and purring on the lady's shoulder. The bonding had begun and there was no going back. The lady made a life-changing decision.

This is a cross-post from another website as I thought it was worth it. It is a good story. I wish them both the best of luck. They should have 15+ or more years together. She called him Wally.

Some time later (don't know how long). What happened next...

@wallyfromthemart

The stuff I gotta get done can wait. 🤷‍♀️ ##WallyTime ##wally ##kittensoftiktok ##rescue ##Walmart

♬ original sound - Wally's rescuer

Blind rescue cat has two feline helpers (for now)

NEWS AND COMMENT: This story comes from Sioux City, USA and it's a cute one. The Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue report that they rescued a tuxedo cat who was born without eyes. They named him Keller. The cat was not neutered, either. Once in their rescue centre he was lost and bewildered. That, of course, was to be expected. So, within a day they rescued a female cat which they decided is his mother and helper.

Blind cat Keller on the left and his two feline helpers a young tabby female Trixie and his sick mom. Photo: Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue

Immediately on her arrival at the shelter they became inseparable. They stay close to each other and the female cat was clearly Keller's helper in navigating. The problem is that when veterinarians checked out Keller's mum, they discovered that she was quite ill. She had to have all her teeth removed and she had a large tumour in her sinus cavity. They removed the tumour and she appears to have recovered but they don't know whether the cancer will come back and her prognosis is not good.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Keller, therefore, might soon be without his helper. And so, the rescue staff decided to introduce a new cat into Keller's life to take over the helping duties. They picked a nine-week-old shelter cat who has a bold and confident personality. Her name is Trixie. She quickly became a member of Keller's family, learning how to help Keller.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: Gorgeous Little Grey Blind Cat at Animal Shelter Adopts His Human Companions

And so, the shelter has a threesome to be adopted, all at the same time! A blind cat who is helped by his mother and the young tabby female who will take over those duties when her mother goes over the rainbow bridge.

Cindy Rarrat, the director of Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue, said:

"We've been looking for that special home, that special someone that would give these guys a chance."

If you're interested you can apply by filling in a form on their website which you can get to by clicking on this link. The shelter looks great in the photos.

Black-and-white cat gives birth to tortoiseshell kittens

This black-and-white female cat was living under a motorcycle cover in America somewhere (I believe). The person who owns the motorcycle saw her. At the time she was scared and pregnant. This unknown person whose Reddit username is: u/mama-and-babies, provided her with a beautiful, secure, safe and warm home for her family. 

Everything looks perfect and you can't beat cardboard for keeping cats warm. She looks content and safe. Whoever the person is they've done a very good job. It sort of restores faith in the human race!

Black-and-white cat gives birth to tortoiseshell kittens. Photo: as per above.

As I said, the mother is black-and-white, while her kittens appear to be tortoiseshell-and-white with plenty of white (calico). They have very interesting and beautiful patterns. I think they are going to be popular cats for rehoming when the time comes. 

The father can't be a tortoiseshell because tortoiseshells are always female and if they are male, they are usually sterile so not sure how these cute kittens came to come into existence! They do look as if they have orange, white and black fur which indicates to me a calico cat.

Perhaps both parents (non-tortie) carried the recessive gene for the tortie coat. I am guessing. Actually, it is far more complicated than that!

Perhaps the male is a rare sexually functioning tortoiseshell. If that is the case, might he be valuable? Find him immediately! :). 

I have overcomplicated things. If the male cat was orange the offspring would be calicos. The commenter is correct.

HOW MUCH IS A MALE CALICO CAT WORTH? - CLICK TO FIND OUT!

Awesome preparation for multi-kitten rescue from urban concrete gully full of rubbish

 Preparation for kitten rescue from concrete gully full of rubbish

The picture is a screenshot from a YouTube video. It shows a cat rescuer abseiling (sort of) into a concrete gully in an urban environment with a carrier for several kittens. There are five kittens there. They were hiding under some cardboard. The notable aspect of the kitten rescue is the preparation and the precision. It is really well thought through both to protect the people and the cats. And to successfully capture them. Highly impressive. The team are from the Hope for Paws animal rescue organisation. The video has been hugely successful as expected. Such a cool cat rescue.

Do you feel as surprised as me that there are great people as seen here spending all this time and effort in rescuing kittens when at the same time millions of unwanted cats are killed at shelters annually in the USA or they used to be? The numbers euthanized has fallen considerably (thankfully but it is still high). And the rescue contrasts with people at the other end of the character spectrum: those that abuse and are cruel to cats. The world seems very strange to me.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Rescued dog parents and nurtures rescued kittens and it's beautiful

This is a great picture taken, I believe, by Rachel a nurse at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home who also fosters rescued animals at the shelter. She volunteered to foster some very young kittens who had been cruelly abandoned by the roadside. It's a hard job looking after kittens at that age and parenting them. 

Bertie a rescued Lab retriever parenting rescued kittens abandoned at 2-weeks-of-age at the roadside. Photo: Rachel of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Bertie, her ex-Battersea rescued Labrador retriever stepped up to the plate and volunteered to help. He's done a great job and entertained Rachel at the same time. Rachel made the point that I want to make which is that it is wonderful to see a rescued dog looking after rescued kittens. 

It is a beautiful interspecies relationship which is in stark contrast to the relationship between the former owner of the abandoned kittens. It must have been incredibly poor for a person to throw away kittens on the roadside like that. 

It always bemuses me how people can do this. They must have abnormal brain function. A part of their brain is obviously missing because nobody can do something as cruel as that without something fundamental lacking in their mentality. Often it is down to poor education due to poor parenting but I don't know the background to the abandonment. What is clear though is that no one should ever throw away kittens at the roadside or in woods. There are rescue centers for these unwanted animals. Have the courage and decency to use them, please.

We see quite a lot of pictures of dogs parenting cats and kittens and vice versa. But rarely do we see a photograph this good in terms of its composition and the expressions on the faces of the animals. The lighting is pretty good too despite being artificial. I have to commend Rachel for the photograph if indeed she did take it. I expect she did because she was fostering the kittens and I believe still is.

Building contractor spent 8 hours rescuing 16 cats stuck in wall of abandoned home

NEWS AND COMMENT: It appears that a building contractor was doing up a property in Philadelphia and he heard the meows of cats. He discovered 16 cats and kittens stuck in a wall of the building. He decided to rescue them and it's reported that it took him eight hours to save the cats from behind the walls of this abandoned house. Amazing work.

 Building contractor spent 8 hours rescuing 16 cats stuck in walls of abandoned home. Some of the rescued cats and kittens at ACCT Philly rescue. Photo: the rescue.

They are now safe at ACCT Philly, Philadelphia's only animal shelter and control organisation which helps 18,000 of Philadelphia's pets and people in need each year, according to their Facebook page on which they report the rescue.

They said the following:

"Sunday started out a bit differently for a contractor working on an abandoned house. The home owners had heard meowing in the walls, and when he opened the wall, he found 9 adult cats with 7 kittens. Thankfully, he was able to get them out and bring them to us - but it took eight hours to do so. We're so glad that he did, as quite a few aren't in great shape, and sadly, one of the kittens was not able to be saved.  The cats are scared, some will require more socialization, but right now they are resting in their cages."

Obviously with such a large immediate input of rescue cats to their organisation they are in need of donations as usual. And they would like people to come forward to foster a cat or kitten. I'm writing about this about two days after their report so they may have been able to manage things but if by chance you are able to help and they still need help then please email them using this email address: 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫@𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐭𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲.𝐨𝐫𝐠 .

Some of the 15 rescued cats at ACCT Philly. A kitten could not be saved. Photo: ACCT Philly.

We are told that there were nine adult cats and seven kittens. One kitten could not be saved. The remainder all owe their lives to the contractor who found them because many of them were in desperate need of medical attention and they would not have lasted much longer but for his efforts. They don't know how the cats ended up inside a wall in an abandoned property. The cats are resting and recovering their health. They will be socialised and brought back to full health and then found new homes.

P.S. I have assumed the contractor is male! In the interests of equality, it has to be said that it might have been a woman or women.

Domestic cat survives 10 days down a well in Northamptonshire, UK

In another story which is yet again a testament to the endurance qualities of the domestic cat, a black cat named Flea went missing from her home in Loddington, Northamptonshire on April 24 and spent 10 days down a well. She was found about two days ago and throughout that time her owner, Keira Hill, had been searching for her.

 Domestic cat survives 10 days down a well in Northamptonshire, UK. Keira and Flea. Photo: Keira's sister (believed).

It transpired that she had fallen down a well in a neighbour's back garden. Neighbours heard the cat crying for help last Tuesday and called firefighters to rescue her.

Flea is less than a year old. Despite there being a foot of water at the bottom of the well, she had managed to clamber up onto a narrow ledge away from the water where she presumably stayed for approximately 10 days. Perhaps she returned to the water to drink some from time to time but I am speculating.

Keira Hill, a freelance gardener, said that she and her sister had done all they could to find her cat including appeals on social media and putting up posters in the village. They were beginning to fear the worst, perhaps that she had been hit by a car.

The well Flea fell in. Photo: Firefighters?

Like many domestic cats she likes to jump into cars and ends up taking unplanned road trips. Cats are inherently inquisitive and they will jump onto lorries for example which can lead to disastrous results.

Also like many cats once they are rescued they look as though they are completely unfazed by the experience and wonder what all the fuss was about.

The story reminds me of quite a common occurrence in India where leopards end up at the bottom of open wells. In the stories that I have read, the locals invariably rescue the cat with great difficulty which is surprising because I also see many stories of leopards being beaten to death by local people when they encroach into the urban environment. It's rather strange human behaviour.

Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand do a great job in managing community cats

The photograph that you see on this page caught my eye, which is why I was drawn to writing about this rescue organisation: Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand. In New Zealand there is an issue with feral cats. In line with their neighbours, Australia, the country want to kill feral cats and simply get rid of them in the most convenient and expedient way, which leads to cruelty. So it is particularly nice to read about this caring organisation, managed and owned by veterinary nurse Sharna Asplin.

 Wild Whiskers of Tauranga, New Zealand do a great job in managing community cats. Photo: Wild Whiskers.

Sharna is a smart cookie. She is very sensible and organised. Everything that she has said about community cat in her area is absolutely spot on correct. Every organisation concerned with managing and caring for community cats in the interests of the cats and the residents should see how she works.

She runs a volunteer-run group and they have two focuses. In the summer it is kitten season and over this period she uses her best efforts to take in feral kittens (she describes them as "wild kittens") and to socialise them so that they can become loved domestic cats in their adulthood. The kitten should be within that critical timeframe, the first eight weeks of life approximately, when they can be socialised successfully and relatively easily. It's much harder to socialise adult feral cats.

She has 20 foster carers across Tauranga who take the kittens in. They make sure that the kittens will become excellent companion animals and after that assessment they treat the kittens for fleas and worms and sterilise, vaccinate and microchip them.

They put them up for adoption. The other focus is during the winter months when they employ TNR techniques. They do this with considerable care and the involvement, wisely, of the residents. They make sure that the community cats are not owned by posting on social media. They also scan for microchips and if possible they place a "found cat collar" on the cat. They also contact local veterinary clinics. They then neuter the cats and release them back to where they came from.

She says that they only conduct TNR where there are proper systems in place, namely that there is a volunteer to manage the colony or cat and a regular food source so that the cats does not present a danger to native wildlife.

Sometimes they have to euthanize a feral cat because of injury and/or sickness.

She says that they have rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed over 100 kittens in the past season from October to April and they have trapped, neutered and returned adults.

She makes the excellent point that as these are community cats she needs to ensure that she engages with the community to obtain their cooperation. This, I'm sure, helps to avoid antagonism and it also helps to create a community spirit in dealing with what is a community problem. She says that if a citizen of the area finds a stray cat the best thing that they can do is to take photographs and post a description of the cat online. This helps to get the ball rolling because they can find out whether the cat is feral or owned.

It can be difficult to distinguish between a domestic cat which has become a stray, looking dirty and starving, and a genuine feral cat. People should not assume that because a cat is dirty and thin that it is a feral cat. The same by the way goes for behaviour. Often domestic cats can be fearful of strangers which is a behavioural trait of feral cats. For this reason, I have always argued that people should not be shooting at cats that they believe are feral (if approved by the local authority). It might be shooting someone's pet which has become lost or has been abandoned. Anyway it is essentially very cruel.

In acknowledgement of her good work the local authority has provided her with a $4000 grant which has been a great help to her during the coronavirus pandemic because it precluded her ability to raise funds. Well done to Sharna.

My thanks to Sun Live for the report.

Calico cat rescued after being trapped under roof-mounted solar panels

This is a novel way for a domestic cat to be stuck in a high place. Trees are the favourite but I think that this is the first time a cat has been trapped under solar panels on the roof of a neighbour's house. The cat was meowing and concerned local residents called the RSCPA who in turn called the local firefighters who responded quickly. This was definitely a case for professionals with experience of working in high places. Apparently the firefighter who captured her persuaded the cat to move to one side which released her. 

Calico cat rescued after being trapped under roof-mounted solar panels. Photo: RSPCA

Released and captured. Photo: RSPCA

She is microchipped. It was scanned by the RSPCA who discovered that she lived nearby. She raced off hopefully directly back home. It is common for inside/outside cats to climb onto neighbouring roofs and travel across them to neighbouring gardens. They love the high vantage points. They are unafraid.

The cat's name is Rocket. The firefighters are with the South Wales Fire & Rescue. The location is: Dinas Powys house in the Vale of Glamorgan.

8 cat tense cat rescues provokes admiration for the rescuers

I am in awe of these people. The guy who is walking his dog and decides to swim across a canal fully clothed to rescue a cat perched on a pole on the opposite side. He didn't set out that afternoon to go for a swim in a canal in his clothes. He did it to save the cat and I suspect he did it without a second thought. And the cat disappears without a second thought as well!

8 cat tense cat rescues provokes admiration for the rescuers. Screenshot.

And the guy who climbed a tree to fetch down a cat. See the camera pointing down towards the ground. I don't have a head for heights and that viewpoint disturbs me! I certainly couldn't do this but he did it with a smile on his face. His patience was awesome. And when he came down he just said to the lady "You're welcome".

And what about the young woman who, without compunction, without thinking about it for more than a couple seconds, climbed into a roadside drain to fetch out a kitten because no doubt she heard the squeaks and squeals of this cute and vulnerable animal stuck down the drain. 

Perhaps the kitten was washed into that drain by a storm. This woman is kindhearted and brave. She has courage and I suspect that the majority of people would not do this. They simply wouldn't have wherewithall or courage and determination and commitment to attempt it. She did and I am in awe of her.

I stopped there on the video but please see it all. These are men and women who we have to admire. They have a sensitivity towards animals which is admirable. They take risks to save animals. On the face of it they are like anybody else but perhaps they are not. Perhaps they're more courageous. These are the people who should be rewarded with praise and recognition.

Sometimes it bugs me to see civil servants and politicians getting awards and recognition when really, in truth, the people who should get rewarded are those invisible and anonymous people at the bottom of the pile who grind out the days and years surviving and occasionally do wonderful things as you see in this video. It doesn't have to be a cat rescue or a dog rescue. It can be any other charitable deed.

Often these deeds go unrecognised. These are the people who should be rewarded by governments. They are the ones who should be on pedestals to be admired. Not the bullshitting, networking elite who never fall, never fail even if they do fail. They end up with a damn good pension and in the UK they end up in the House of Lords.

P.S. Meghan Markle likes to rescue animals. In her interview with Oprah Winfrey the Duchess added: "I just love rescuing". Her two dogs, Guy and Pula, are rescue dogs.