A race against time

When two Auckland Council contractors from Downer heard weak, frightened meowing during one of their shifts, they knew they had to lend a helping hand.

Searching the area, they eventually found two kittens trapped down a stormwater drain three metres below ground.The contractors tried to rescue the kittens, but they were elusive – and with rain in the forecast, they were running out of time. So they called our Māngere Centre team for help.

Community Support Officers Zoe and Jenae answered the call, setting up cat traps on long ropes. They lowered the traps down the drain, along with cameras from Downer that connected to a monitor above ground.

Eventually, they found one pair of glowing eyes staring at them from the shadows.The other kitten, however, was still elusive. Neither would approach the trap, and daylight was fading.

The teams continued to discuss what they could do in the time they had. Downer offered to bring in robotic cameras that could drive along the bottom of the storm drain, with the goal of pushing the kittens to the other end where the traps could lift them to safety. Looking at the forecast and realising incoming rain would put the kittens at serious risk, both teams agreed to continue the rescue until 8PM, well after darkness would fall.

“It was a long day for us” Zoe tells us, “but the team from Downer were amazing, and we’re not ones to give up.”

Hours later, at about 7:50 PM, the two kittens finally climbed into the waiting traps and were lifted to safety!

The kittens were whisked to an overnight veterinary clinic, and then to our Māngere Centre the next day. They were named Tea and Mickey after the two Downer employees who did so much to save them.

Though Mickey’s outcome wasn’t the one we'd hoped for, we know we made the kindest choice for her, preventing her from further suffering. Making decisions like this is the toughest part of our job, but we're so relieved that we were able to save Tea.