Hastings kitten trapped in chimney for 30 hours - see pictures

Hobbs, the three-month-old tortoiseshell, fell into the chimney sometime last Wednesday (July 1) in Laton Road and was reported missing by that evening by owner Tony Harris.

He tore up floorboards and cut a hole in a plasterboard wall because he could hear her meowing but could not locate her until he went to bed at 1am exhausted.

At 4am Tony messaged a builder friend Phil Burmingham, who arrived two hours later and made a man-sized hole in the wall to try to locate Hobbs.

Phil, of Amersham Close, realised she had fallen into a chimney hidden, uncapped, in the roof space and firefighters were called in.

At 7.30am, two fire engines arrived and the situation was assessed before a decision to drill through the outside of the chimney was made when a third crew with specialist rescue skills arrived.

But after three hours the fire crews had to move on and promised to return the next day with masonry cutting equipment to free the little cat.

By this time Hobbs had not eaten or drunk anything for 24 hours so another friend, Jeremy Malies, rigged up drinking and food bowls on strings which Phil lowered into the chimney to feed and water the dehydrated kitten.

Tony said: “This was the beginning of the success story when Dean Elmes turned up.”

Between them Phil and Dean, of Hughenden Road, put down a metal tape measure and then lowered an iPhone down the chimney to record a video of exactly where the cat was.

Tony added: “Dean then did the maths and worked out exactly where the kitten was in relation to the flat below and drilled a small hole. He was spot on. And there she was!

“She was trapped for 29 hours and would surely have died but for my friends’ actions and the fire brigade. I can’t thank them all enough.

“I think Hobbs used up at least six of her lives!”

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