Pets

eridani

(51,907 posts) Fri Sep 25, 2015, 10:18 PM Sep 2015

Band of Strangers Mobilize City to Rescue Cat From Montreal Bridge

http://www.care2.com/causes/band-of-strangers-mobilize-city-to-rescue-cat-from-montreal-bridge.html#ixzz3mnslQ1YW

Earlier this month, the quiet-as-a-mouse heartbeat of a grey cat trapped high on the elevated steel trusses of Montreal’s Jacques-Cartier Bridge was the loneliest sound in the world. There are more than 113,000 cubic yards of concrete and 4 million rivets holding up the bridge, and it seemed impossible that this immovable mass would ever allow the cat to land gently on the earth below. But when a group of concerned citizens joined forces to save the frightened feline, the word “impossible” simply melted away.

Louis Lemieux, a retired Radio-Canada journalist, was walking beneath the bridge on the evening of September 10 when he heard a frantic meowing up above. There’s no telling how many hours or days the cat had been trapped, but Lemieux could see a small grey face pleading for help.

Soon others stopped too, and the group of strangers started discussing a plan to get help. They phoned local animal rescue groups, the SPCA and 911, but no one would help. Every call was a dead end.

As the night went on, the movement grew larger. One bicyclist even stopped by the local fire station to ask for help, only to leave disappointed as the firefighters were not given permission by the chief to attempt the rescue.

Word of the trapped cat began to spread and soon Lemieux was on Twitter reaching out to his 13,000+ followers to make some noise. And wouldn’t you know…it worked. Firefighters were finally given the green light to go ahead and save the cat.