An Alert Scrap Metal Worker Discovers a Pretty Penny Hidden in a Mound of Rubble

"I heard the faint cry of a cat, and found a tiny kitten wedged in a mound of scrap metal that was ready to be taken away."
-- Victor Stevenson

A beautiful seven-week-old kitten recently had a narrow escape in Chester, England. (See photo above.) After wandering into a recycling center, she was spotted at the last minute by employee Victor Stevenson just as he was about to haul away a pile of scrap mental in which she was hiding.

"I heard the faint cry of a cat, and found a tiny kitten wedged in a mound of scrap metal that was ready to be taken away," he told the Wrexham Evening Leader on August 14th. (See "Kitten Rescued from Scrap Metal Crusher.") "I carefully released her and rushed her straight to the vet."

Although her close encounter with disaster left her visibly shaken, she was otherwise unhurt. She spent a few days with Stevenson and his wife before she was surrendered to Cats Protection in Wrexham, Wales.

Because of her good fortune, she has been named Penny, as in lucky penny. "She is very lucky, and has certainly used up one of her nine lives," Vicky Keen of Cats Protection told the Evening Leader.

Although he dearly loves cats, Stevenson was unable to take on another one since he already has two of his own. "I don't know where this little kitten came from, but I hope she finds a lovely home soon," he said.

Besides his two cats at home, Stevenson looks after four sterilized moggies who patrol the grounds and buildings of the scrap metal recycling center. "Each day I feed them, so over the years they have come to trust me, and if no one else is around they'll even let me stroke them," he related. "If any of the cats are ill I take them to the vet and nurse them at home until they are fit for duty."

At Cats Protection, Penny will be microchipped, vaccinated, and treated for fleas and worms before she is put up for adoption once she becomes nine-weeks-old. Knowing that imprisoning cats indoors is cruel, the animal rights group will attempt to place her with a family that has a yard for her to play in part of the time.

"Penny is absolutely adorable," Keen said. "She has a turn in one eye which gives her the cutest of expressions. Sweet little Penny loves plenty of fuss and cuddles and would make a wonderful addition to a family."

She is also, like all kittens, playful and inquisitive which accounts for how she was almost recycled along with the scrap metal, Keen added.

Stevenson not only saved her life but the socialization that he and his wife provided her with has significantly reduced her fear of humans and transformed her into a more confident young cat. Coming as it did at such a tender age, it should greatly enhance her chances of finding the loving home that she so richly deserves.

Photo: Wrexham Evening Leader.