A six-month-old kitten named Kurkure, who had strayed out of its owner’s house on Ashwini Dutta Road off Trinagular Park here, was rescued from inside a dilapidated house by a disaster management group of Kolkata police.
Rupali Gangopadhyay, 55, a homemaker and the owner of the cat, scaled an eight-foot wall with the assistance of the DMG personnel to save Kurkure. “I have never scaled any wall in my life. But surprisingly I was not scared at all. I was rather happy that I would be able to reunite with Kurkure,” Rupali told The Telegraph on Sunday.
Rupali’s husband Santanu Gangopadhyay, said Kurkure was found at their doorsteps about six months ago. “Kurkure had breakfast at home and then went out in the garden to play and attend nature’s call like other days,” Santanu said.
But on Saturday evening when Kurkure did not return home, the family started worrying. “Late in the evening my wife heard a feeble cry. It was Kurkure. The sound was coming from an abandoned building next to our house.”
Rupali said she went to Rabindra Sarobar police station seeking help to rescue her cat.
A team of officers of Rabindra Sarobar police station and DMG personnel reached the spot sometime after 10pm on Saturday. By then, Kurkure was spotted at the second-floor balcony of the three-storey building. “There was no way he could jump over from the balcony on to our property,” Santanu added.
But the DMG team decided not to carry out the operation on Saturday night. “It was too dark and the place was infested with snakes and mongoose. We decided to resume the rescue work on Sunday morning,” said an officer of Rabindra Sarobar police station.
Rupali ensured that Kukure did not have to spend the night empty stomach. She packed some cooked rice and fish curry in a polythene bag which a member from the DMG team managed to place on the balcony using an iron rod where Kurkure was sitting.
The family said they received a call from the police station around 8am on Sunday asking if Kurkure had returned. When they received a negative answer, they alerted the DMG to resume the work. The team used a ladder to scale the boundary wall to enter the compound. Kurkure was sitting at the same spot but he refused to come with the DMG men. “He was very scared. So, I decided to go by myself and bring him back,” Rupali said.
Rupali scaled up a ladder to reach the top of the boundary wall and then the ladder was placed on the other side of the wall which she scaled down.
Kurkure, who could instantly recognise her, made no fuss and silently crept into Rupali’s arms, said an officer. Kurkure was then put into a basket and transported to the other side of the boundary wall.
The family members said they were overwhelmed with the way cops handled the matter. “The care with which they rescued Kurkure was exemplary,” said the husband.