Colorado: Police rescue bear which broke into car, locked himself in, then honked horn for help

COLORADO -- Boulder County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook April 17 at 5:56am ·

Our deputies responded to a vehicle trespass with an....usual suspect. A bear broke into a car and locked himself in.

Car 0. Bear 1.

They were able to open the car door and safely let the bear out without anyone, including the bear, being harmed.

This is a good reminder that wildlife is out and about this time of year looking for food. Here are tips for living with bears. Trust us, you don’t want to have to deal with a “hangry” bear.

1) Don’t feed birds while bears are active. Attract birds with water feeders, plantings and nest boxes instead.
2) Store garbage in bear-resistant containers, enclosures or buildings.
3) Put trash out the morning of pick up, not the night before.
4) Keep bear-accessible windows and doors closed and locked at night.
5) Keep garage doors closed. Lock the door between the house and the garage.
6) Don’t leave anything inside your vehicle that could attract a bear. That includes sun tan lotion, hand crème and air fresheners, along with empty food wrappers and packaging.
7) Don’t leave pet food or empty pet food dishes outside. Store pet food in a secure enclosure.
8)Put chickens and small livestock in a secure pen at night or electric fence their enclosure.
9) Pick fruit and produce as soon as, or just before, it ripens.
10) Unwelcome mats and electric fencing are proven ways to keep bears out.

Indiana: Police officer rescues Snowy Owl stuck to grill of car after being hit on freeway

INDIANA -- Bloomington Police @BPD_MN posted on Twitter December 11, 2017

Say hi to Officer George & his new friend. A driver had hit this owl on I-494 & now this beauty was lodged in the grill of the car. Officer George arrived & was able to free the owl.

Fortunately the owl only had minor injuries & was transported to the Raptor Center for treatment.

(October 2017) California: Hanford police officer rescues kitten stuck in car's engine

CALIFORNIA -- Hanford Police Officers' Association posted on Facebook October 15 at 11:17pm ·

We received this today from one of our followers...

Officer Jurdon rescued a kitten lodged in a car engine today!

A big thank you to him!

Minnesota: Eden Prairie officers rescue kitten and heron in separate incidents

MINNESOTA -- Eden Prairie Police Department posted on Facebook July 17, 2017

In the past week EPPD Community Service Officers (CSOs) have had two unique animal rescues.

First, last Wednesday night CSO Spencer Barrie was dispatched to an area of Purgatory Creek where a 911 caller had reported a blue heron caught in a net intended to keep carp out of the creek.

The water was knee-high so CSO Barrie took off his boots and socks, rolled up his pants and waded into the creek. The heron was not initially cooperative and struggled with CSO Barrie who was eventually able to free it.

The second rescue occurred on Sunday night when a woman who had just driven from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie called to say that she thought there was a cat stuck in her car’s engine compartment.

CSO Lars Anderson responded to the call and spent the next hour working with the driver and her boyfriend to free the cat from the car.

It took them an hour to pull apart the bumper and wheel well and eventually a tiny kitten emerged.

It did not belong to the owner of the car so CSO Anderson brought it to an animal shelter.

Tennessee: Mt. Juliet police officer rescues kitten trapped under patrol car - and gives it a home

TENNESSEE -- A Mt. Juliet police officer made a surprising discovery when she checked underneath her patrol car.

It turns out that a kitten was wedged near the axle of her patrol car.

The officer was tipped off after hearing the furry creature meow.

The officer has since adopted the kitten as part of her family.

(WSMV - July 25, 2017)

Colorado: Bear cub looking for a snack gets stuck in car in Woodland Park

COLORADO -- All he wanted was a midnight snack.

Police suspect a baby bear was enticed by the smell of food before the animal ended up in the back seat of someone’s car in Woodland Park late Friday night.

The Woodland Park Police Department posted a photo of the furry intruder, sitting next to what appear to be a few canned goods, on the agency’s Facebook page on Saturday morning.

"It is summer time in Woodland Park!" the department said in the post. "Please be aware of what's in your car, this little guy got stuck in a car last night."

A woman called authorities after she heard strange noises coming from her car, according to a dispatcher at the department. An officer who responded to the call opened the door and ushered the cub out of the car and back into the wild.

Police believe the cub’s mother somehow opened the vehicle door, the dispatcher said.

When officers arrived, they could hear an animal rustling in bushes nearby, but didn’t see the mama bear, the dispatcher said. They checked back several hours later and saw no signs of either animal.

(The Gazette - June 3, 2017)

North Carolina: Raleigh police help rescue hawk stuck in truck grille

NORTH CAROLINA -- An unlucky hawk got stuck in the grille of a U-Haul truck over the weekend, according to a witness who watched as a Raleigh police officer worked to free the bird.

Leslie Ansley, who posted photos of the hawk rescue on social media, said she pulled over when she saw the hawk stuck in the truck on New Hope Road in Southeast Raleigh Saturday a little after noon.

She said a police officer and an animal control officer were able to get the hawk free. In an interview Monday she said, “I saw this hawk fly away.”

She said she was on her way home Saturday around noon when she saw “a U-Haul with a huge wingspan across the grille.”

In the photo the hawk, most likely a red tail, has it’s legs caught in the grille of the large U-Haul truck.

(News & Observer - May 15, 2017)

New York: Brooklyn cat reunited with owner after 230 mile journey to Queensbury in car engine

NEW YORK -- A 10-year-old cat from Brooklyn took the trip of a lifetime to Warren County while trapped underneath a car.

After a long journey, Gumbo the cat was reunited with his owner at the Warren County SPCA on Friday.

“Hey, welcome back, buddy,” Raven Huang said. “Feels like a family member came back, and it’s really comforting that he’s okay.”

On January 14, Huang was looking for a place to neuter Gumbo in Brooklyn, but before he knew it, Gumbo escaped from his car.

“I was doubtful of finding him,” Huang said. “Finding a cat that runs loose is very difficult.”

Nearly 230 miles away in Queensbury on Monday, the Warren County SPCA got a call from security at the Great Escape Lodge. A family traveling from Brooklyn had just arrived and heard meowing. When they looked under the hood, they found a cat stuck in the engine.

Chief Humane Officer Jim Fitzgerald believes Gumbo snuck in before the family left and then couldn’t get out.

“It found its way up through the back of the block, and then it had to come up and over the front of the engine and then crawl back down into a compartment,” he said.

It was a tricky job rescuing Gumbo, but in about 20 minutes, Fitzgerald wiggled him free.

“It was lethargic when we pulled it out,” he said. “It was definitely thirsty, hungry.”

Gumbo made it out with just a few scratches despite being stuck for three to four days.

“I don’t know if that was, like, its eighth life but definitely pushing it at 10 years old,” Fitzgerald said.

Through Facebook, the SPCA and Huang found one another, and Huang was thankful to be able to reunite with his cat.

“It’s a big sigh of relief,” he said. “I feel like there’s a lot of things looking over us.”

Gumbo will now make the long trek home, but this time, he’ll be inside the car.

(News10 - Jan 27, 2017)

Connecticut: Officer rescues barred owl trapped in the grille of a car

CONNECTICUT -- An owl is recovering after getting stuck in the grill of a truck traveling from Willimantic to Groton on Thursday.

Steve Martin noticed something was wrong with his truck when he got to Groton on Thursday. After spotting the bird of prey, he immediately called the Groton animal control who came and took the owl to safety.

After receiving some help from the Groton animal control, the barred owl was taken to the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic.

Officials at the Nature Center said they didn't see any obvious, major injuries on the bird. and expect it to recover.

"The first 24 hours really can be quite critical,"  Maggie Jones, who is the executive director of nature center, said. "There could be something that is not quite obvious to us."

Officials at the Nature Center said  they'll keep the owl overnight for observation and if all goes well, it could be released as early as Saturday.

 

(EyeWitnessNews3 - Oct 21, 2016)

Florida: Good Samaritan chases down driver of car with bald eagle stuck in grill; police and firefighters rescue him

FLORIDA -- What appeared at first to be a 3D decal on the front of a car bumper, turned out to be a live eagle.

The driver who noticed the eagle stuck in the front grill of a passing car made a u-turn and then chased down the vehicle and alerted police.

Clay County police and firefighters were soon on the seen, and were able to dislodge the eagle. The bird apparently became lodged in the front of the car when it flew too close in front of the oncoming vehicle.

"The bird is alive and was turned over to the B.E.A.K.S. Wildlife Sanctuary," the Clay County Sheriff's Office reported on Facebook. "Great job by all involved."

Owner of the bird sanctuary, Cynthia Mosling, told CNN the eagle doesn't appear to have any serious injuries and is standing up, alert and walking around. She believes the eagle is a mature male, at least seven years old.

Mosling and her colleagues named the bird "Matthew" after the hurricane that recently passed through Florida. Matthew will be released after being nursed back to full health.

Update:
"BEAKS is doing an amazing job caring for Bald Eagle Matthew and all the rescued birds from the storm. We are so very proud of Mrs. Billi West who is part of our CCSO family, and of all the CCSO and CCFR members who assisted in the call to help!" - Clay County Sheriff's Office, Florida

(UPI - Oct 9, 2016)

California: Officer rescues kitten stuck in car engine; likes her so much he adopts her

CALIFORNIA -- A Hanford police officer made a new friend Saturday after he rescued a kitten from the inside of a car’s engine compartment.

Traffic Officer Kevin Wheat said he responded to a call around 10 a.m. Saturday. He said a county employee working at the Recovery Fest event at Lacey Park had just arrived when they noticed something strange.

“As soon as they got out of their car, they heard a cat crying,” Wheat said.

Wheat said the cat apparently crawled into the Dodge Caravan through the bottom of the vehicle and got stuck between the fender and the engine compartment.

Retrieving the animal required some improvisation, Wheat said, as traffic officers are not equipped or trained for disassembling vehicles. He used the jack stand and tire iron included with the vehicle to remove the tire, and then removed part of the fender with a small screwdriver and a pair of pliers from his patrol motorcycle.

The entire operation took about an hour. Wheat said this was his first cat rescue in six years as a police officer.

“They don’t train us at the academy in how to get a cat out of an engine compartment,” Wheat said.

Wheat took the gray-and-white domestic shorthair to the Kings County Animal Services shelter. Shelter staff gave him first dibs at adopting the animal, which is believed to be about 3 months old.

Kings County Animal Services Manager Cassie Heffington said the shelter has checked the cat for injuries or illness, but legally has to keep it for a three-day “stray hold” to ensure that it doesn’t have an owner searching for it.

Heffington said about 98 percent of cats brought to the shelter are never reclaimed.

As of Monday, the shelter’s website showed nearly 100 cats available for adoption, about half of which are being held in the county shelter. The others are either in foster care or are available from the pet adoption center at the Hanford Mall.

Heffington said the Kings County animal shelter is currently charging $25 for cat adoptions in hopes of reducing the shelter population. The fee includes spaying or neutering the animal, plus a microchip and vaccines.

“We’re not having an overpopulation situation in the shelter,” Heffington said. “We’re having kittens who are growing up in the shelter.”

Heffington said cats do occasionally crawl into engine compartments, particularly in the winter when the animals seek warmer shelter. Heffington said she recommends that drivers bang the hood of their vehicles before starting the engine in cold weather. This helps ensure that any cats or other critters that have set up camp will leave.

“It does happen,” Heffington said. “It’s not very common at all in the summertime.”

According to the National Weather Service in Hanford, local temperatures reached 51 degrees on Friday night. Temperatures during Saturday’s incident ranged from the mid-70s to low 80s.

Wheat said he has never owned a cat and considers himself to be a dog person. He and his family had two dogs until one of them died a few months ago. He said he and his wife talked Monday morning about possibly adopting the rescued cat.

By noon, they had made their decision and visited the shelter to make it official. He said the cat will be ready for pickup on Thursday.

“It has a good story,” Wheat said. “I don’t want someone else to tell the story who’s not me.”

Heffington said it’s not unusual for someone who finds a stray animal to eventually foster or adopt it. She said local law enforcement officers often adopt pets, particularly German shepherd dogs, from the shelter.

An officer adopting an animal they rescued is a “pretty rare instance,” she said.

Wheat said he hopes to make his new pet an indoor cat to avoid having to dismantle another car. He said he and his wife will have to buy a litter box, food and other items before they pick up their new cat on Thursday.

“We’ll try the indoor thing first since it likes cars,” Wheat said. “I don’t want to do that again.”

(Hanford Sentinel - Sept 20, 2016)

Massachusetts: Kitten pulled from car engine, recovering from heatstroke

MASSACHUSETTS -- A stray kitten that wandered inside a car engine was rescued Monday by police and the city’s animal control officer. It is alive but recovering from heatstroke.

The kitten was seen going underneath a silver sedan parked in front of Borah’s restaurant on Rantoul Street, said Kevin Harutunian, the mayor’s chief of staff, who happened to be there at the time. It hopped into the engine by way of the muffler.

Luckily, the owner of the vehicle called police just before 12:30 p.m. They responded, along with Animal Control Officer Matt Lipinski. The New Beverly Auto Clinic supplied a tow truck that pulled up the front end of the vehicle for better access.

From there, Lipinski and the police officers on scene were able to pull the kitten out.

“It was admitted to a veterinary clinic in Peabody suffering from heatstroke and is in the process of recovering,” Lipinski said.

The kitten is around 8 weeks old, he said, and is a male domestic short-hair tiger cat. Lipinski said he believes the cat is a stray.

“We expect it to make a full recovery,” he said, but said he doesn’t know where the kitten will go when it’s ready to be adopted.

Harutunian said it was lucky the car owner knew the cat was in there and didn’t start the car, or that the kitten hadn’t wedged itself inside in a way that would have made it inaccessible.

The scene became a spectacle for those walking by on busy Rantoul Street, he said, and many were concerned about the cat.

“It’s a good example of teamwork with a very happy ending,” he said.

(Salem News - Aug 29, 2016)

Florida: Family's car destroyed after rescuing kitten tapped inside dash; animal lovers step up to help her get another car

FLORIDA -- One Florida family was faced with a choice: save their car or save their cat.

Denise Williford-Neal of Vero Beach was picking up her newly adopted kitten, just 6 weeks old, earlier this month when he managed to climb into the dash of her '95 Monte Carlo. The family set out food and water to try to lure him out, but nothing worked.

After nearly a day of this, Williford-Neal became desperate and posted a call for help on Facebook, according to ABC affiliate WPBF 25 News. Volunteers started showing up.

When mechanic Ron Spada arrived, the dash had been partially dismantled, but the kitten was still far out of reach. Spada knew the family would not be able to save both the car and the cat.

"After assessing the situation I saw that the removal of the dash completely was necessary," Spada told ABC in an email. "The owner stated to me 'Do whatever you have to and save the kitten.'"

So Spada and another mechanic kept working for another hour and a half to get the kitten out. Once the dash was removed, the mechanics cut open the firewall little by little with a reciprocating saw.

 

When the little guy was finally pulled from the vehicle, he had been stuck for more than 20 hours.

"That I can replace," Williford-Neal told WPBF of her car. "You can't replace an animal."

 

The kitten is doing well and has a name reminiscent of his ordeal: Monte, after the car.

People touched by the story continued to answer the call. A GoFundMe page to replace the car and within days had surpassed its $2,500 goal. Monte's owner posted her thanks:

"My family and i want to thank everyone that has donated. I just can't seem to find the words to express how much this makes me feel. I've been overwhelmed from the attention our situation we found ourselves in has gotten.

Getting Monte out of our dash was by destroying our car was done without a second thought. The car could be replaced. Didn't know how at the time, didn't really care at the time.

After Monte was rescued from the dash and all the wonderful volunteers from our community left my family and I sat playing and caring for Monte. That's when we started wondering what we were going to do now we didn't have a car and how we were going to replace it.

Within a few hours my post on Facebook asking for help to rescue our kitten was filling up with comments of people wanting to help. The next morning I was hearing from tv , journalists and the volunteers that came. People wanted to know how they could send money to help replace or fix our car.

Monte doing well and watching the movie
"White Men Can't Jump" :)

So that's how this gofundme account was set up. My son and his girl set it up for us. I honestly felt strange about doing this. I also didn't expect to receive all these generous donations to replace our car. I know now God answers prayers. I am witness to that now. Our kitten has been saved and we will get another car to replace the one we destroyed saving him. So thank u God and thank you to everyone that has donated, been interested in our story and has supported us during this time.

And to let everyone know, Monte is doing great! He is such a sweet kitten. This is all just a memory for him but something I will never forget. God bless. Denise"

(ABC30 - Aug 8, 2016)

Georgia: 'It had melted her little paws': Jeffco deputy rescues stowaway kitten in car engine

GEORGIA -- When a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy stopped to help a stranded motorist on the interstate, he had no idea he was about to rescue a stowaway.

That stowaway, authorities said, was a kitten found in the engine compartment and she apparently had safely made the hours-long trek from Atlanta to Birmingham. The kitten was hot and had some small burns, but is expected to be OK.

"I don't see how anything that small can ride that long and survive,'' said Jefferson County sheriff's Deputy Tim Sanford. "It had melted her little paws."

It was about 7 p.m. Wednesday when Sanford stopped to assist a stranded motorist along I-20 just west of Leeds. The family was traveling from Atlanta back to Pickens County when they hit a pot hole and had a flat tire. Sanford offered to change the tire for them to help speed them on their way, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.

As he worked the jack near the front tire, he spotted something darting in and out of the engine compartment, and then heard a faint cry. He had the driver open the hood and discovered the small gray and white kitten inside.

"By that time, she was screaming,'' Deputy Sanford said. "I wound up getting under the car and retrieving the kitten. As soon as I snuggled her like a baby, she calmed right down."

Sanford said the motorists didn't own a cat, and said they hadn't made any stops since they left downtown Atlanta. The deputy named the kitten Atlanta and, after getting her some food and water, dropped her off at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society where she will be cared for and put up for adoption, likely sometime next week.

The deputy said law enforcement officers never know what they'll encounter daily. "Sometimes it's just wide open,'' said Sanford, who is a K-9 handler and animal lover. "Things like this, it'll touch your heart."

"That's a remarkable kitten and I hope it finds a loving home,'' Christian said. "That deputy isn't too bad either. Awfully proud of him."

(AL.com - May 19, 2016)

Kitten survives 28-mile trip under car's hood

NEW JERSEY -- How else is a cat going to see the world?

Town police determined Thursday that a short-haired white and orange tabby kitten hitched a 28-mile ride from East Stroudsburg, Pa. to Hackettstown inside the engine compartment of a Toyota pickup truck.

Police got a call at 7:26 a.m. Thursday from an employee of Mars Chocolate North America -- the maker of M&Ms -- who reported that a cat was stuck inside the engine compartment of the pickup.

 

Officers located the cat stuck in or around the fan blades of the vehicle and determined the feline crawled into the engine at the employee's home in East Stroudsburg and survived, unscathed, the 30-minute, 28-mile ride to Mars Chocolate, town police Sgt. Darren Tynan said in a release.

 

With the help of employees from the Hackettstown Department of Public Works and Mars, the cat was freed. He ran a short distance before he was caught by police.

Town Animal Control Officer Kim Bennett said the cat still is considered a kitten, weighs about three pounds and is about four months old. Bennett said the cat will be held for seven days in hopes its owner will reclaim him. If he isn't claimed by the owner in seven days, he will be placed for adoption, she said.

The rescued feline appears to be fine but will be kept for a while in a quiet area in a crate with a blanket so an assessment can be made on whether he appears to be feral or a domesticated cat, used to being around people, Bennett said.

Anyone with knowledge of the cat's home or owners can call the Hackettstown Police Department at 908-852-3302 or the Animal Control Officer at 908-625-0106.

(Daily Record - July 2, 2015)