A frightened, fluffy white kitten with gray markings was trapped inside a storm drain in West Valley City, Utah, until an unlikely hero came to their rescue: a remote-controlled robot named R2D2.
The city’s Public Works Department received a call about a kitten stuck in the pipe, according to People. The crew’s first attempt at rescue ended empty-handed when they tried using a pole camera to locate and gently coax the kitten in the right direction. But the kitten wasn’t budging.
When that failed, they had to bring out the big guns! Enter R2D2, a custom-made, high-tech, remote-controlled crawler with lights and a live camera. The robot is normally reserved for inspecting underground pipes — not rescuing kittens.
The mini Mad Max-like vehicle entered the pipe and slowly approached the frightened kitten, gently nudging them toward the opening, one tiny step at a time.
Video footage of the rescue shows the kitten turning around to face the approaching robot, meowing, and then hopping forward as R2D2 continues its slow pursuit through the narrow pipe.
Once R2D2 got the kitten moving toward the rescuers, it wasn’t long before the little furball emerged into the waiting arms of a Public Works employee. “Mission accomplished!” the city wrote in a news release, thanking the crew for saving one of its tiniest residents.
The city also shared the video on Facebook, celebrating both the kitten’s safe escape and the workers who refused to give up.
Lady Freethinker is grateful to West Valley City’s Public Works crew for letting their compassion— and R2D2 — guide the little one to safety.
For another story about a kitten who needed a little human ingenuity to escape a tight spot, check out our story on the California firefighters who rescued a kitten trapped inside a wall.
