Car-Engine Kitten Rescued

A kitten caught in car engine was saved from a grisly fate, thanks to a fast-acting East Rocker and the neighborhood association that rallied behind her. 

SoHu Neighborhood Association neighborhood watch leader Lisa Siedlarz got a call Monday morning that set the rescue in motion: a resident of the neighborhood, which comprises the lower section of East Rock, was concerned about a faint but certain cat cry he heard coming from the engine of his Honda, parked on Pearl Street. 

Siedlarz called the police immediately. They told her to call the city’s animal control department, where a staffer promised to ​“check it out.” Then Siedlarz waited.

Officer Joe Manganiello at animal control had the impression from the conversation that the cat was locked in the car. So he suggested she call the police so they could run the plates.

Then Siedlarz called back to report that she had learned from neighbors that the cat had been moving in and out of car engines in the area since Sunday night. “‘That’s a feral cat. That’s what feral cats do,’” Manganiello remembers telling her. The city doesn’t usually deal with roaming cats ​“in good condition.” (“We can’t go out and pick up every cat. I know how it sounds. But they’re different from dogs. They take care of themselves. It’s really out of our realm to deal with cats,” he later told the Independent. He said the city has thousands of feral cats and kittens roaming around.)

An hour after hanging up with Manganiello, Siedlarz received an email from neighbor Brandon Patton saying the cat had bolted from the Honda and run to a red Volvo, where it had hidden beneath the car. All of the neighbors were chasing the kitten, but were not able to catch it.

Patton put on long sleeves and bike gloves to guard against scratching. The kitten, bolting again as neighbors chased it, ran into some bushes along a house. It seemed that the kitten had nowhere to run. Patton had a feeling they were close to the end of the chase.

“We cornered it and grabbed it,” he sad.

The rescuers tried to feed the trembling kitten but it refused food. It probably only knew how to nurse, Patton said.

SoHu members haven’t given up hope on it, though. One of the rescuers, Maggie Borer, took the tiny feline home in a box so Borer could raise her alongside another kitten, also rescued from a car earlier this year. As of Tuesday morning, Borer had already scheduled a check-up appointment with the vet to find out what sex the kitten is, and if it is healthy.

If all goes well, Borer plans to name the kitten Pearl.