Firefighters use Hoover to suck up kitten from drainpipe

RESCUING cats stuck up trees has long been regarded as one of the fire service's more quirky public services – but when one six-hour-old kitten became trapped in a kitchen pipe it called for some fast thinking.

Fire crews and a major incident unit were dispatched to a house in Kellie Place, Dunbar, last night after the newborn kitten strayed into a pipe under the sink.

One specially adapted appliance carrying the latest rescue equipment including an ultra-light fibreoptic camera attended.

But when crews located the puss in peril the fire crew's solution was a little more basic.

A fire spokeswoman said: "The crews used a nozzle from a Hoover with a sock placed over the end to remove the kitten from the pipe. The sock was used to catch the kitten at the end of the pipe."

Owner Claire Coutts, a 26-year-old housewife, said the kitten was one of four born to one-year-old Alvin yesterday at 4.15pm. By late evening one of the litter was missing.

She said: "It was about 11.15pm and I could hear this whining coming from beneath the dishwasher.

"I counted the kittens and realised that one of them had gone missing, and that it had become trapped in a pipe underneath the sink.

"We tried various ways to get it out and I could almost get my arm down the hole but the kitten had become trapped far down the hole and round the bend.

"The fire brigade suggested tearing out the units and ripping up the floorboards.

"I said to them there must be an easier way to get the kitten out than destroying my kitchen so we decided to get the Hoover out and see if we could suck it out the hole. We put a sock over the end of the Hoover, stuck it down the hole and out it popped."

Crew manager Caroline Ellis, of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service's Newcraighall Major Incident Unit, said: "The kitten's mother had obviously made its bed under there and went there to give birth. By the time we got there the cat and its bed had already been removed, so we've got no idea how the kitten got into the pipe.

"We decided that we were being a little too gentle, and after several frustrating tries we just jammed the nozzle into the pipe and got it as close to the cat's head as we could.

"We switched the Hoover on and the cat just went 'soooook!' up into the nozzle. We knew it was in there because the Hoover was struggling, so we pulled it out and there it was at the end of the nozzle safe and well."