Tilney All Saints RSPCA staff speak of wonderful teamwork after Wisbech cat rescue

RSPCA staff have spoken after an amazing three-day team effort to rescue a trapped kitten which was stuck in a ventilation pipe in a Wisbech shop cellar.

The Citizen reported last week how John Woods and Emily Cole from West Norfolk RSPCA Eau Brink Centre in Tilney All Saints were praised after their heroic efforts to free the cat from the pipes outside of the William Hill betting shop.

The epic three-day rescue attempt was carried out by animal rescue officer John Woods and centre manager Emily Cole, Dyno-Rod , DALROD Cambridge and James and Wendy Payne from JW Drainage Services, as well as local businesses and residents.

The rescue proved to be far more complex than anyone expected, as it was not known where the pipes led to - and despite many different attempts, it proved impossible to rescue the kitten out from the way he had gone in.

What followed was numerous rescue attempts to get the cat out of the pipe and then an intense search in all the shop cellars in the area to find where the pipes went.

And when that failed, they even dug all the pipes out, only to discover that the kitten had gone into the redundant cellar under the William Hill Shop - the cellar had been covered over, which is why it hadn't been found in earlier searches.

William, as he has since been named due to where he was found, was finally rescued after kind permission was given by the team at the William Hill to allow rescuers to dig up the shop’s floor and find a covered trap door that led into the redundant cellar - where the pipes ran down into.

But even when John and James managed to get into the cellar, the scared kitten ran off and then trapped himself in the wall cavity of the shop’s window. So, more dismantling of the building was needed to get the cat from there.

After the team managed to finally get their hands on William, he was then rushed over to the RSPCA West Norfolk Branch’s Eau Brink Rehoming Centre - where he is now recovering from his ordeal.

John said: “It was quite a surreal few days - we literally tried everything we could to rescue this kitten, but every time there seemed to be a new challenge.

“I literally cannot thank everyone involved enough - without such a team effort, we would never have been able to get William out.

“It’s actually been so heart warming how everyone has pulled together for the sake of rescuing William, and it’s just the best news that we managed to get him out unharmed.

“There are so many people we want to thank - the local community for all their support, the shop owners who let us check in their cellars, DALROD Cambridge for providing equipment to locate the kitten, William Hill for giving the green light to do what we needed to get William out, the fire service.

“And a big thank you to Emily from RSPCA West Norfolk, and also to James and Wendy from JW Drainage, who have been absolutely incredible. This is a rescue none of us will ever forget - but the fact everyone worked together for the sake of William is just so brilliant.”

Emily added: “William is now at our centre, and despite everything he’s been through, he is doing well. He’s a little bit skinny, but eating well. He’s obviously very nervous.

“We know he is probably the most famous cat in Wisbech right now - but we are not taking rehoming requests at the moment because he needs time to recuperate, recover and be assessed.

“I also just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all their support and help with this rescue - there is no way we could have done it without everyone’s help. The local community was just amazing, and we just can’t thank everyone enough. We are just so glad that William was rescued. He would not have survived without the rescue.”

James, of JW Drainage Services, added: “As cat owners, we just wanted to do what we could to help, and it certainly wasn’t a usual job for us. But we are so happy to rescue William, we couldn’t bear the thought of him being trapped.”

If you would like to support the RSPCA West Norfolk find out more at westnorfolkrspca.org.uk