A community in Duluth, Minnesota, gathered together to rescue a lost cat from a sewer on September 10, after it had been missing since July.Dahlia Marie Boberg recorded this video showing her neighbor, Clifton Nesseth, and other members of their community working together to rescue Nesseth’s cat, named Drifter.In a
Facebook post after the rescue, Nesseth chronicled Drifter’s disappearance, the hopes for his return, and his seemingly miraculous rescue.Nesseth said Drifter disappeared on July 18, the day a road crew sealed sewers and laid large rocks in a previously open construction area in the neighborhood. Over the next two months their family hung up missing posters, regularly called out for Drifter, and at one point even temporarily adopted a lookalike cat Nesseth said his emotions made him believe could be their missing pet.Nesseth wrote that on the evening of September 10, they got word that neighborhood kids had heard meowing from the sewer. With the help of a shovel, some scissors, and the encouragement of neighbors, Nesseth was able to open up a hole big enough for a cat to squeeze through and was delighted to find that it was indeed Drifter.Nesseth said Drifter had been a “strong and formidable” 15 pounds when he went missing and was weighed at 6.5 pounds at the emergency vet after his rescue, but was “otherwise completely himself” and recovering under veterinary instructions.“The vet said that cats need to eat every three days before they begin to shut down, so I cannot imagine what he scavenged to survive over the last months. How many terrible ends came to the rats and mice that chanced upon his hungry and unstoppable nature? How deep did he have to dig (inwards) in order to survive and finally emerge to his natural state of being a surface dweller again, to the celebration and joy of his family and neighborhood, which had all gathered around to witness his rebirth from the ground,” Nesseth wrote. Credit: Dahlia Marie Boberg via Storyful