Kitten trapped in fire hydrant rescued by Louisville Water and Metro Animal Services workers

Louisville Water employees Chad Harper and Jimmy Stone spend their days helping to maintain the company’s 24,000 public fire hydrants. It’s a big job: a driver typically runs into a hydrant with their car or large truck on a daily basis. So the Tuesday afternoon call to repair a broken hydrant was a routine one.

Routine until Chad Harper looked into the hole where the orange hydrant once stood and he found a kitten, an orange tabby kitten that was trapped five feet in the ground, at the bottom of the hydrant.

Chad and Jimmy immediately called for help and Metro Animal Services came to the rescue. It took around 10 minutes, but the sergeant was able to use a special tool and rescue the kitten. For Chad and Jimmy, it was a huge relief.

This team has worked on hydrants for years and has found some unusual things before – snakes, toys and miniature cars. But never, a kitten. Perhaps this kitten now has a new name – pure tap or tapper in honor of Louisville Water’s name of its product, Louisville pure tap©.

See the happy kitten after rescue.

*Update – as of 7/26, the kitten is almost ready for adoption. Make this adorable kitten a member of your family!