BUCYRUS — What could have been a really bad day for one sweet little kitten, ended up maybe being one of the best of its life.
When Noel Richie was leaving work at Bucyrus Community Hospital last Thursday, she was stopped by a coworker who said she heard meowing coming from inside her car. Upon shutting the car off, the women discovered that there was a little black kitten stuck in her engine.
Bill Johnson, head of plant operations at the hospital, was called and asked if he could come out and help to extract a cat from a vehicle.
“When I heard, I was like, ‘Oh Lord, is it alive?’” Johnson said.
When Johnson got out to the parking lot, there were two Bucyrus Police Department members there, most of plant operations, and a few nurses.
“We took some parts off the car and I climbed underneath it and took the splashguard off the bottom of the car, and then an officer reached under the car and I felt the kitten go running down my arm to get out,” Johnson said.
Johnson was able to put the car back together once the kitten was safely out without a scratch on it.
Richie — the nurse whose car the kitten was in — ended up keeping the kitten. Those on the scene were offering up different names for the kitten such as fan belt, radiator, alternator, spark plug, or radiant if the kitten is a female.
“I’d do that every time — life is precious to me. It was uplifting to see that many people out there wanting to get the cat out, and then to see the excitement on everyone’s faces when the cat came out,” Johnson said. “It’s stuff like that that makes you feel good with everything going on today.”