This tiny kitten was rescued by Doncaster fire fighters after 'being thrown from a moving van'

The tiny animal had fallen between two fences next to Moss Road, Askern, and was hiding in a small plastic container, close to Askern Industrial Estate. A crowd of worried residents gathered but were unable to get to it.

Firefighters from Askern Fire Station initially passed the scene on their way to a call out to a fire. That turned out to be controlled burning, but when the worried residents were still gathered around the side of the road, they stopped to check if anything was wrong.

Crew manager Jake Connell said: “We didn’t know what had happened before we arrived, and saw people digging around in the bushes. We wondered if they had hit a dog or something.

“They were trying to get to a kitten that was hiding in what looked like a plastic water bowser, but was stuck between two fences.

“We cut away a couple of trees so that we were able to get to it. It was tiny, and you could fit it in the palm of your hand. I have a cat myself – I was pleased we could help.

“One of the women there said it was their missing kitten, missing from the other end of the village.”

Postings on social media later stated that the cat had been thrown from a van. One posting stated: “Two ladies saw someone throw it out of a moving van.”

Tracy Rushworth, who rents the yard where it was found, told the Free Press one of her drivers had been in the yard on Monday June 22, when some people were looking through the gates, so he opened them up but they couldn’t find the kitten. She and her children later went out to join the search.

It was the second cat rescued by Jake’s crew within a few weeks, after saving one in a flat fire at Sandringham Road, Intake, in May.

South Yorkshire fire service is currently recruiting on-call firefighters at Askern. Register interest via http://www.syfire.gov.uk/.

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