Secaucus Town Employees Work For 3+ Hours Saving Kitten In Storm Drain

SECAUCUS, NJ — It is incredible the lengths Secaucus Animal Control, Dept. of Public Works employees and even employees from the town sewage plant will go to save a 4-week-old kitten trapped in a drain pipe.

That's exactly what happened this past Wednesday, when all of these municipal employees worked for more than three hours to rescue a kitten trapped 15 to 20 feet down in a storm drain on Penhorn Avenue.

At about 1:45 p.m. a property manager at 501 Penhorn Avenue heard a kitten crying from deep inside a storm drain underground. This is a commercial property in an industrial area of town near the Hindu temple.

Secaucus Animal Control officers Luis Guillen and Andrew Meyer responded to the scene, as did the father-son owners of Hugerich Construction, a private company located there. They found one single kitten very deep inside a drainage pipe about 20 feet underground.

The kitten was so deep in the pipe that Animal Control officers and DPW truly had no way to get it out, explained Guillen, although they tried. So, employees with Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority were called in and they supplied a robot that has a camera on it.

The robot is about the size of a remote-controlled car, said Guillen and it was lowered down the pipe. This enabled the DPW workers to see the kitten. They could also see a large puddle of water on one side of the kitten and they could also see that the pipe was too steep for the kitten to crawl out on its own.

The pipe was slightly angled, so Guillen said he lowered two large pieces of cardboard down, so the kitten could climb out using its paws. He felt something pulling on the cardboard and knew the kitten was climbing out; he then was able to reach in and get the animal.

The entire rescue took more than three hours Wednesday afternoon, he said.

"This is not about me; I was only one person out of many and I was just the one closest who reached in and grabbed it," said Guillen.

The kitten was only about four weeks old, he estimates. He said he and Meyer took it to the town animal shelter and gave it a good bath. He said the kitten ate "a huge meal" and then slept comfortably for a long time. He said the kitten is thriving and is now available to be adopted at the town shelter. If you are interested in adopting the kitten, call the Secaucus Animal Shelter at (201) 348-3213.

Guillen said he nicknamed him "Lucky, because he really is lucky we were all there."

"This is about the kitten and the efforts of multiple departments at Secaucus and a private company who put their heads together with one goal in mind and that is to save the KITTEN!" said Guillen. "Secaucus has a lot of good people doing the work of the town!"

Secaucus is truly a town that takes care of those in need, from tiny kittens to children to senior citizens.