Firefighters rescue caged cat from icy river

MISSOULA – Firefighters rescued a house cat Tuesday from the icy Clark Fork River. The animal, which was locked in a cage, apparently had been thrown off a bridge.

A pair of passers-by spotted the calico cat Tuesday morning while crossing a footbridge and called for help.

Missoula firefighters arrived minutes later, pulled on wet suits and lowered a rescue boat – a Cataraft – onto the ice.

When they got to the soaked cat, the story of its predicament was apparent, Capt. Dick Wear said.

Someone had put the animal in a cage, along with a rock weighing about 16 pounds, and tossed it over the bridge, he said. But instead of landing in the water, the caged cat landed on the ice and bounced several times, coming to a stop in an icy puddle of slush.

It’s unclear how long the cat had been there.

Firefighters took it back to the fire station, dried it off and fed it leftover Christmas turkey and a dish of milk.

“When we first took it out of the cage, we expected it to be pretty feisty after the whole ordeal it went through,” firefighter Philip Keating said. “It was really skinny, nothing but skin and bones, and had collar marks where a too-small collar had rubbed the fur off its neck. But it was really friendly.”

Firefighter Josh Macrow decided to keep the cat. After his shift Tuesday, he took it to a vet and then home to his 12-year-old daughter, Taylor.

Naming the animal was easy, he said.

“We call her Lucky.”