Four kittens rescued after falling into rock wall crevice, reunited with mom

Litter of kittens rescued from Sudbury rock wall A litter of kittens was rescued from deep inside a rock retaining wall near Costco in Sudbury and reunited with their mom. (Debbie Willmott)

It was a happy ending for a mama cat and her four kittens, after the kitties fell into the deep crevice of a rock wall behind Costco in Sudbury.

Rescuers credit social media for being able to reunite the family so quickly.

It started last week when Debbie Willmott said she noticed a couple social media posts about a cat dodging traffic near the big box stores on Barrydowne Road and Marcus Drive.

Willmott told CTV News in a phone interview she has been helping rescue cats in the Sudbury area for a long time and is experienced with trapping them.

It took her two days to trap the mama cat, putting food out to lure her in.

"I saw where she was coming from up and down the hill towards Silver City," she said.

"Thankfully, with the snowfall, I was able to find her pawprints."

On Friday night, Willmott set a trap to catch the cat.

When she arrived home 40 minutes later, she got a notification that the cat was in the trap, so she returned to the site.

'MY HEART SANK'

What should have been a triumphant moment, turned to worry as she discovered the cat was a female still nursing kittens.

The next job was to find the kittens.

After consulting with some other rescuers, Willmott decided not to release the mama cat.

Instead, she contacted nearby businesses, Silver City, Rona and Costco to be on the lookout for kittens.

Willmott brought a handwritten poster to Costco to be put up in the breakroom.

FINDING THE BABIES

Saturday evening, staff at Costco found four three-week-old kittens stuck in the rock retaining wall behind the store.

The kittens had fallen into a crevice that was deeper than an arm's length.

"They seem to be in deep so it’s hard to reach them," Ross Evans said in a post on social media Nov. 11 at 6:24 p.m.

Evans' wife, Danielle Geneau, works at Costco and told CTV News in an online interview the rescue was a four-person effort.

"My coworker Graham heard them crying, got help," Geneau said.

"We searched the warehouse for 'pickers.' We brought canes and tape out hoping to 'stick' the kittens as a last resort ... We were desperate. They were freezing and losing energy. Very deep into the wall."

During the rescue, she called the local rescue group Pet Save Sudbury andspoke to director Jill Pessot, who was out to dinner with family.

"I waited for each one and took them to our observers' warm car, wrapped up in a blanket in her warm vehicle, we waited for them all to be rescued," Geneau said.

All four kittens were eventually rescued shortly before 7 p.m. using a reach extender.

Two of them were in bad shape and starting to freeze, Willmott said.

REUNITED

Willmott picked the kittens up from Costco on Saturday evening and brought the reunited family to the Pet Save shelter.

She said she isn't sure how long the kittens had gone without food, but having lots of fur helped them survive.

All five felines are now thriving and doing well, but are looking for a foster home.

Anyone interested can call 705-692-3319 or text 705-662-2352.