Kitten in Newport Beach rescued with aid of jackhammer

Deepa Bharath

A little kitten in Newport Beach was lucky enough to use up only one

of his nine lives before a persistent rescuer pulled him to safety

last week.

He is alive because a woman walking her dog heard his “meow” and

Animal Control Officer Valerie McCulley was determined to save his

life, even if took six hours and several jackhammers.

The kitten was found early Friday morning in a narrow vent at an

apartment complex in the 4700 block of Villagio, said Newport Beach

Police Sgt. Steve Shulman.

“The property manager told us to do whatever was necessary to get

the kitten out,” he said.

McCulley got there at 6 a.m., she said.

“We didn’t know how he got there,” McCulley said. “He was just

five or six weeks old. And he’d been there for the last day or two.”

The problem was the hole in the vent was barely three inches wide

and it wasn’t big enough to get him out.

“I could put my hand in and feel his head but I couldn’t pull him

out,” McCulley said.

They tried offering him food, even the fancy Friskies type. But

the little kitten ate the food and couldn’t figure out a way to get

out.

So after an hour and a half of trying, she asked city General

Services for help and they arrived with jackhammers.

“We had to jackhammer for an hour and a half because it was so

loud and we didn’t want him to go deaf,” McCulley said.

Then she climbed into the vent and sat there waiting for the

kitten to come out.

“He did come out and when he did, I grabbed him,” she said.

McCulley said she and others working on the rescue and even

watching it, felt an immediate fondness for the distressed animal.

“He was so friendly,” she said. “I thought for sure he was missing

from someone’s home.”

The kitten was then taken to a shelter and was adopted right away

by the woman who had alerted the animal control officers, McCulley

said.

And since the little guy didn’t have a name, McCulley came up with

one she thought was perfect -- Jackhammer.