LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas family spent 13 hours in 108-degree heat to rescue tiny kittens and their mother from a storm drain.
FOX5 caught the strangers in action as they tried for hours to save each kitten. The ordeal happened off Lone Mountain Road west of the 215 Beltway.
Dana Hernandez said her daughter and husband went for an early morning walk around 7:30 a.m. and heard crying in the storm drain.
“They saw the mama cat jump into the sewer. That caught my four-year-old’s attention. My four-year-old was like, ‘I hear crying.’ My husband came over, he looked, he saw the kittens,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and her mother, Dr. Julie Woodward, called City of Las Vegas Animal Control several times, as well as the police department and the fire department. As temperatures soared, the family yanked off the storm drain to drop down water and food for the kittens and the mother.
“Mommy is very emaciated. We gave her two cans of food and she ate all of it. She was starving,” Dr. Woodward said.
Hernandez managed to crawl down the storm drain and save several kittens. The family took them to an emergency veterinarian, who said they were dehydrated and malnourished.
Around 3 p.m., Animal Control arrived and aided with a small trap to try to retrieve the other cats.
By 8:30 p.m., the volunteers were able to rescue more kittens, but they are still searching for the mother. Late Friday night, Animal Control officers dropped off another trap to help find the mother.
“I’m thinking that there could be more [kittens] but maybe they haven’t made it. They’ve probably been in there for a couple of days. They’re very, very small,” Woodward said.
“The mom has been a very doting mother. I really want to rescue the mom too,” Hernandez said.
Dr. Woodward plans to adopt all the kittens.
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