Patience Pays Off in Kitten Rescue

Senior Rescue Technician, Bill Tanguay retrieving a kitten.

Senior Rescue Technician, Bill Tanguay retrieving a kitten.

About a month ago the ARL Boston Rescue Team received a call from a hair salon in Chelsea about some kittens that seemed to be stuck in their ceiling. The stylists could hear the sound of pitter-pattering above them as they worked.

Our rescue team went to the scene and from what they could see, it was clear that there were a lot of kittens stuck up there and this rescue would be no easy task. Rescue technicians were visiting the hair salon every few days to try to catch more kittens, this became a true team effort.

Brian O’Connor, Manager of Rescue Services at the ARL said “The most challenging part was that they were all stuck in a drop-ceiling in a business. so they were surrounded with wires.” The Chelsea fire department even came in with their infrared camera, but because of all the wires they couldn’t discern where the kittens actually were.

At one point it was clear that one of the kittens had actually ended up behind a wall and after receiving permission from the business owner, one of our rescue technicians cut a hole in the wall to retrieve the poor little guy.

The kitten who was rescued from inside the wall.

The kitten rescued from inside the wall.

One-by-one, all of the kittens were saved! Thank you to everyone at the hair salon for their patience as we helped get this little family out.

In total, seven kittens plus mom were rescued from the Chelsea hair salon. We’re happy to report that everyone is doing well. The kittens were brought to our Dedham shelter where they were placed in foster homes and the mom is currently in our Boston shelter undergoing evaluation.

Great work everyone!

Kitten number 6!

Kitten number 6!

Finally, kitten number 7!

Finally, kitten number 7! A little frightened and dirty, but okay!