The owner of a ‘curious cat’ rescued from a 60-ft ledge at Ramsgate Tunnel has been reunited with him in Kent. On Saturday, October 23rd, Jinks found himself in a ‘perilous predicament’ when he became stuck on a small ledge at the tunnel’s entrance in Marina Esplanade.
Jinks was safely rescued from the ledge by police, fire services, and the RSPCA in what was characterized as a “large rescue mission.”
Inspector Clive Hopwood was dispatched when the RSPCA received a complaint regarding the sick ginger puss.
Clive realized he wouldn’t be able to save the cat by himself, so he called Kent Fire and Rescue.
Along with Kent Police, four vehicles were dispatched to assist, including a rope rescue unit, a high vehicle, and a technical rescue unit.
The cat, believed to have fallen from higher terrain and landed on the ledge, was subsequently rescued by a crew that abseiled down.
Kent Fire & Rescue Service said:
“Crews were alerted to the cat by the RSPCA – who couldn’t reach the cat due to it being 18 meters high on the ledge. KFRS will always respond to rescue an animal where there is a risk to the life of the people involved. The height vehicle was sent to the scene along with the fire service Line Rescue team. The team abseiled down the ledge to rescue the cat, which was then handed to the RSPCA.”
Clive added: “The specialist team abseiled down to reach the poor, frightened cat and I went up in the aerial platform with a team so that, once they had hold of him safely, they could pass him to me to get down to safety.
“I checked him and, thankfully, he hadn’t been injured during his ordeal. I scanned him and, although he was microchipped, unfortunately, his details weren’t registered so we took him into our care and started looking for his owner.
“We’d like to say a big thank you to the police and the amazing fire crews for helping with this dramatic rescue.”
Fortunately, his owner noticed the found poster and contacted the RSPCA within a few hours.
Two-year-old rescue cat Jinks had been missing from home for more than two weeks and his owner – Kim Abraham, from Ramsgate – was growing increasingly concerned.
Kim said: “We had a lot of sleepless nights, we were so worried about him,” Kim said. “We’re so relieved to have him back; it’s been fantastic. He’s very sleepy and quite underweight. He’s ravenous so we’re trying to feed him back up again slowly. Goodness knows what he’d been up to all that time!”
As per ITV, Jinks is now home with Kim and her husband, their three rescue dogs, and their two other cats, Ronnie, who is 13 years old, and Fezziwig, the rescue kitten.
“He’s such a lovely, affectionate cat,” Kim added. “He’s very playful and isn’t frightened of anything so I’m not surprised he ended up getting into trouble! It’s so lovely to have him home. We’re going to take him to the vets to make sure he’s okay and we’re going to have him re-microchipped as we can’t understand why his chip didn’t bring him home to us.”