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The black-and-white cat that was stuck on the roof of the Petain Court apartment complex along Petain Road is now safe.
This was after a concerted rescue mission by members of the public, Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
Prior to this, the cat was described to be trapped on the roof for over a week.
Two Members of Parliament (MPs) Denise Phua and Louis Ng were also involved at gathering resources to look into the case.
Rescue efforts
In a Facebook post, cat feeder Lim brought the issue to the attention of the cat community on March 12.
Mothership visited Petain Court on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 15) and met several volunteers monitoring the situation, including Lim.
They were joined by a representative from Figment, a co-working space which owns part of the shophouses.
The representative provided access for the team to enter the residences in order to reach the roof.
At the site, there were a few other cats who observed the volunteers, looking slightly concerned.
According to Lim's post, Phua and SPCA executive director had gone down to the site to better understand the situation the day before.
Image via Mothership.
Image via Mothership.
On Mar. 15, a volunteer also brought a drone to inspect the roof from a bird's eye view, but the team failed to locate the cat after scanning the roof twice, as it was likely hiding.
In an effort to help, volunteers also managed to fetch a boom lift and handed out bottled water to those who had been there for a few hours.
Image by Mothership.
AVS and SPCA set more traps
When rescue officers from AVS and SPCA arrived later that afternoon, a focus group was set up with Lim to come up with a rescue plan.
In addition to the previous cage trap laid down three days pior, the team evaluated that the best course of action was to deploy another three cage traps.
Image by Mothership.
When Mothership visited Petain Court at 8pm, AVS and SPCA officers were setting up the traps with cameras installed to monitor activity via the roof access.
Image by Mothership.
Image by Mothership.
Image by Ernst Guo.
Image by Ernst Guo.
Image by Lim/FB.
Mothership understands that the rescue team had planned to change the baits the next evening, and also considered installing a net that would connect from the roof to the adjacent tree, which would function as a bridge.
Safe and came down to the ground
To their pleasant surprise, the rescue mission ended earlier than expected.
On Mar. 16 noon, Lim updated on Facebook that the cat is safe.
The cat was sighted on the ground after 11 days, albeit looking "much skinnier", Lim described.
It is unclear how the cat managed to escape from its predicament on the roof.
Image by Lim/FB.
In an update to her Facebook post, Lim also thanked everyone who have showed concern and reached out to help in the cat rescue effort.
She also noted that she would be writing to the relevant agencies to share her feedback on how to better help animals in distress in the future.
Mothership understands that Lim brought the cat to see the vet on Wednesday (Mar. 16).
A complex case
While SPCA officers were onsite on several occasions, a direct rescue was not possible due to several safety considerations for both the cat and rescuers.
SPCA told Mothership that there were several complexities to this animal rescue case.
The cat, which looked rather similar to the other cats in the area, was skittish near humans, and a boom lift could not be used since its loud noise would scare the cat into hiding.
Since Petain Court is a private property with no direct roof access, it was also a challenge to find unit owners who could provide roof access to place traps, and the cat was only usually spotted during night time.
SPCA added that rescue operations are often very complex and require multiple stakeholders to work together.
They also thanked the feeder and volunteers for their immense efforts in rescuing the cat.
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Top images by Lim and Corey.