The sound was easy to miss. Just a soft, scratchy mew blending into the hum of a summer afternoon in Corona, California. It was Tuesday, June 28, 2016, and most folks were going about their day when someone walking past a parked van heard it again. A kitten’s cry, quiet but persistent, was coming from somewhere under the vehicle. They crouched down to look, expecting maybe to see a small paw or whiskered face hiding in the shadows. Instead, they found something far more alarming—a kitten stuck inside the bumper.
As help arrived and rescuers tried to gently pull her free, the kitten panicked. In a split second she jumped from the bumper, landed on a metal storm drain, and slipped straight through the grate into a seven-foot-deep drainpipe.
It was the kind of fall that makes your stomach drop.
People called Animal Control. Then the fire department. But the answer came back the same from both. There was nothing they could do.
But for the folks who had witnessed it, walking away wasn’t an option. A group of rescuers launched a mission to bring her back. She had crawled deeper into the pipe system, retreating into a section no wider than 24 inches. They tried lowering a trap baited with sardines into the hole. Nothing.
They discovered another manhole about 350 feet away and even tried using a remote-controlled car to gently scare her out the other end. Still nothing.
Time ticked by. Wednesday came and went. Then Thursday. Then Friday. She was still in there.
By Saturday, the urgency had shifted to desperation. Four days had passed. More than 96 hours underground. No food. No sunlight. Just the sound of passing cars above and the cold silence of the pipe.
That’s when Megan Welch stepped up.
Young, determined, and agile, Megan volunteered to go in. She squeezed her way into the drain, crawling through the grime and darkness on her belly. The smell was sharp. The air was damp. Every inch forward was a struggle. But she kept going.
And then, she found her.
Wrapped in fear and filth, the kitten was still alive. Megan scooped her up and backed out slowly, never letting go. When she finally emerged from the pipe, arms wrapped around the tiny life she had just saved, everyone watching let out the breath they had been holding for days.
The kitten was safe. Her name is Cali now. And she is living proof that no matter how deep you fall, someone out there will fight like hell to bring you home.
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This content was created with AI assistance and edited by the iHeartAnimals team.
