Journo, councillor and SPCA to the rescue
Four kittens and mother rescued at local dump site.
A journalist, ward councillor and SPCA inspector in a joint rescue mission managed to save a litter of kittens and their mother living in a hidden dump site in Riebeeck.
Before the Herald met with DA Ward Councillor, Craig Harrison for an interview Harrison explored uncharted territory in his ward and discovered a hidden dump site.
After the interview, Harrison made his way with journalist Roxy de Villiers to take pictures of the dump site. Kittens and their mother were then found and immediately the Randfontein SPCA was contacted.
“I will be there in five minutes,” said Janette Muller, Inspector for the Randfontein and Westonaria SPCA. However, before Muller got on scene, the mother cat was already apprehended by Harrison.
Muller showed up on scene with a cage to temporarily hold the rescued cat and kittens and in all parties went to rescue the cat’s young.
Almost immediately the first kitten was caught and was reunited with its mother. The remanding four were not as easy to get to as they went in hiding under the construction rubble which made tunnels under the filth of the dump site.
Nearly two hours had passed and nightfall enveloped the dump site with all parties waiting with baited breath for the kittens to fall for the food the SPCA set out as bait to lure the kittens out.
In addition to food being used as bait, the scent of the mother and one of the rescued kittens was also used by strategically putting the cage they were in on top of the rest of the kitten’s hiding place.
It had become too dark to catch the kittens. The SPCA assured that they would send officials the following day to recover the rest of the stray kittens. Food was left for the kittens to hold them over to the next day.
