Truist bank staff and Whiteville Police worked together to save a kitten from a storm drain Wednesday.
Whiteville Police Chief Paul Rockenbach said he and Maj. William Hinz responded to the bank after the chief’s wife called him about a kitten crying in the drain. The small black kitten was several feet below ground, and kept running away from the potential rescuers.
Rockenbach said Whiteville Animal Control came out as well as Truist security and maintenance staff. The frightened feline kept avoiding capture. The chief ended up taking a direct approach: he removed the grate, donned hip waders and crawled on his hands and knees into the three-foot drain pipe.
The kitten was having none of it.
“Every time I’d get close,” Rockenbach said, “he’d run away.”
The rescuers considered setting a trap to catch the crying kitten, Rockenbach said, but the water was too deep.
“We ended up putting a piece of wood down there for the kitten to use to climb up,” he said.
Rockenbach said the Truist maintenance workers eventually rescued the kitten. It was initially reported on social media that Rockenbach pulled the kitten from the pipe.
“We were just all hoping for a happy ending,” he said.
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