A half-blind cat is getting a second chance at life after New York City subway train operators found it stuck in a tunnel Friday.
When operators spotted the black and white feline curled up on the tracks north of 205th St. in the Bronx on the D line, they immediately took action, according to the New York Daily News.
“Workers and transit union officials promptly notified Metropolitan Transportation Authority managers of the cat’s whereabouts, and by Saturday night, supervisors brought in an animal rescue expert who set up a pair of humane traps to try to snag the fuzzball,” the article read.
The traps were placed at the northern end of the D line, an area with no public access where operators turn their trains around.
Sunday at about 5:30 a.m., crews returned to check on the traps and found the cat inside one of them.
“Apparently the little guy was very hungry and very thirsty,” said train operator Eric Loegel, who helped find the green-eyed kitty.
Following his rescue, the cat was transported to the Bronx Tails Cat Rescue group’s facilities for some much-needed love and care.
Sunday, the nonprofit group posted several photos and a video of the feline, whom they named Big Al, to its Instagram page:
The rescue is made up of volunteers who are dedicated to “improving the lives of local stray and feral cats in the Bronx and Harlem,” its website read.
“We perform Trap-Neuter-Return of stray and feral cats living in managed colonies in our communities, provide medical care for sick and injured feral cats, and rescue friendly strays for adoption to forever homes,” the site concluded.
Loegel said he was pleased that Big Al is on the mend and will hopefully find a good home in the near future.
“This one worked out pretty well. I don’t think there was any interruption to train service, and obviously I didn’t hear about anybody two-legged or four-legged being hurt in the recovery,” he commented, adding that he himself owns a very special cat named Baby.
“I myself rescued a two-month-old kitten from the Corona Train Yard in 2013, and I’ve kept her as a pet ever since,” Loegel concluded.