Good Samaritans Rescue a Kitten Trapped in a USPS truck

John DeBacker / Long Island Cat/Kitten Solution, Inc.

Cats have a way of hiding in unusual, hard-to-reach spots. Some stories of lost cats don’t have happy endings, but one lucky kitten that somehow climbed into and got lost in the guts of a United States Postal Service truck in Midtown Manhattan, was saved thanks to the Good Samaritans who stepped in to save this young cat.

According to PIX11 News in New York City, a postal customer reported hearing distressed meowing coming from a mail truck on Friday, October 5. The cat was trapped for two days somewhere in the undercarriage and engine bay of the vehicle, parked by the post office on West 38^th Street. Postal employees and others tried several times to rescue the cat, but she would scurry away when someone got close. Not even humane traps with food would lure this terrified kitten out of her hiding place.

John DeBacker, a Long Island cat rescuer, usually doesn’t drive into New York City with the traffic nightmare. But he was following coverage of this incident throughout the day on Saturday, October 6. Seeing how dire the kitten’s situation was, he decided to make the trip.

“People know I’m skilled with unique rescues like this, so they reached out to me,” DeBacker said in an interview with Cats.com. He is the vice president of Long Island Cat/Kitten Solution, Inc., a rescue and network of foster homes for cats. “I was monitoring the rescue all day.”

The poor young cat had probably crawled into the truck’s structure from the undercarriage. She was terrified and very difficult to catch, he says.

“The cat was scared; whenever someone got near it, it moved to a different part of the truck,” DeBacker said. “It was a busy street, so the cat was scared to come down to it.”

USPS letter carrier Carlos Bravo suggested removing the truck’s hood from the inside, allowing them to reach into the hatch leading into the area under the hood. This allowed DeBacker to go in and grab the kitten, curled up into a nook next to the steering wheel.

“He’s got it!” the other rescuers cried out, as a grinning DeBacker held up the lucky kitten in this video.

DeBacker discovered a frightened but calm and sweet female kitten, about 10 to 12 weeks old. She is mostly white but has patches of brown tabby and orange tabby, a coat color known as patched tabby.

“I don’t think she saw me until I had a grip on her,” DeBacker said.

A spokesperson for USPS told the news station this: “It was roughly a 24-hour ordeal but in the end we are proud of our carrier Carlos for his assist in the happy ending. We thank the animal rescue folks and the police department for their support.”

As for the kitten, she got her happy ending. One of her heroes, who fosters for a New York City-area rescue, named the kitten Stella and took her into foster care at her home. Stella was spayed, and soon adopted into her forever home!

Wherever you live, so many cats need help, and someday, you might come across a stray needing rescue, whether it’s a neighborhood cat outside in the cold, or a cat trapped somewhere like Stella.

“It’s the best feeling when the animal is safe,” said DeBacker, 31 of Bellmore, Nassau County. “It’s horrible when the rescue doesn’t go well, but thankfully this one has a happy ending. It’s rewarding knowing you just saved the life of a cat.”

If you do rescue a stray cat, here’s a list of great names for your new family member to consider.