Sixteen Days

In a remarkable tale of survival, a cat has been rescued from under the rubble of Italy’s earthquake zone after being trapped for 16 days. The cat, named Pietro, is thought to have survived on drops of rainwater – the area hit by the quake last month has seen several storms in the past few days. Firefighters were excavating the remains of a collapsed house in the hill-top town of Amatrice, one of the communities worst hit by the August 24 quake, when they heard faint mews coming from under the rubble. They carefully lifted out the cat, which was severely dehydrated. Firefighters immediately gave it a drink of water and then dispatched the animal to a vet’s surgery in the nearby town of Rieti. “It’s really true that cats have nine lives, look at that”, said one of the firefighters at the scene. [Read more].

• Nick Squires, Pet cat named Pietro rescued in Italy’s quake zone after 16 days trapped under rubble, The Telegraph, September 9, 2016

Mission Impossible... Accomplished!
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