Update on June 4, 5:50pm: NPark's latest update to the passer-by has been added to this article.
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A community cat at Syed Alwi Road was stuck in an eatery's external vent for two days before a passer-by came along to kickstart rescue operations.
Photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook
Photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook
After spotting the cat, who had meowed at him, and realising its plight via the eatery's worker, Nitass Sutaveephamochanon took the initiative of calling the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
This was at 1am on June 4.
However, as the vent was some ways off the ground, SPCA suggested that Nitass called the National Parks Board (NParks) instead.
The following string of events unfolded from 1:10am to 3:30am:
- 1:10am: Nitass calls NPark, who requests for photos. Nitass emails them a photo.
- 1:30am Nitass calls NParks to follow up. The authority said they were forwarding the case to the person in charge, and would call him back.
- 1:50am: NParks calls, but says that they were unable to help on the same night as the eatery's owner will need to grant them access. They will instead contact the restaurant in the morning.
- 2:20am: The police arrive, and try to contact the restaurant. The cat was still in the vent. Mothership understands from Nitass that he was not the one who alerted the police.
- 2:30am: A member of the cat community manages to contact the eatery's worker and boss. They make their way down.
- 2:55am: The eatery's staff arrive. They attempt to retrieve the cat.
- 3:30am: Operations did not succeed as they could not find the cat. The eatery said that they would ask their contractor to check the vent come morning.
Photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook
Photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook
Photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook
The entire process was shared to Facebook group Sayang Our Singapore's Community Cats.
In the early afternoon of June 4, Nitass told Mothership that NParks provided him with an update. However, the agency did not explicitly mention if the cat has been rescued.
Instead, they advised him to liaise directly with the owner of the eatery for the feline's retrieval.
NParks added that it will be "good" if the cat could be adopted, and offered to link Nitass up with the Cat Welfare Society (CWS) if the cat requires sterilisation.
In another update on the same afternoon by NParks, Nitass was informed that the eatery's staff have yet to locate the cat.
A third update by NParks to Nitass in the late afternoon revealed that the cat has emerged from the vent and run away.
Nitass added that he hoped it was the same cat he spotted.
Mothership has reached out to NParks for more information.
More cats on the roof
According to Nitass, there are more cats living on the roof that could potentially find themselves in the same situation.
Some of these cats have already been adopted or rehomed by a community feeder, but there are a few human-wary cats left that are not as easily trapped and retrieved.
Top photo via Nitass Sutaveephamochanon/Facebook