Kitten rescued from excavator becomes construction company's mascot
US construction workers freed a kitten trapped inside an excavator's frame, and it now has its own tiny helmet and safety vest. The company let social media followers choose its name.
A construction site in Ohio, USA, was the scene of an unusual rescue in July. Chase Guelow, a project manager at RiverReach Construction, was checking equipment before heading to a dam construction site when he heard meowing. It turned out a two-week-old kitten had crawled into the frame of a Komatsu excavator and become stuck.
To free the animal, Guelow had to crawl underneath the heavy machine and remove protective plates weighing about 45 kilograms. The kitten was then pulled out — according to Guelow, it was about the size of his fist.
No mother in sight
After the rescue, workers searched for the kitten's mother but found no sign of her or any other cats nearby, leaving it unclear how the kitten had ended up inside the machine. The crew decided to take the kitten in. It first stayed with a foster family for a few weeks before being taken over by the company's mechanic, who grew up on a farm and has experience caring for animals.
For now, the kitten will go both to work and home with its new caretaker until it is big enough to become the company's official "shop cat."
Followers picked the name
The company ran a poll on social media to choose a name for the kitten. The winning option was "Komatsu," honoring the maker of the excavator in which the animal was found. Day to day, though, it goes by a shorter name — Sue. It now also has its own miniature helmet and safety vest.
