Plumber rescues cat trapped underground

SKYLINE VIEW, Pa., April 30 (UPI) -- A West Hanover Township, Pa., woman said a plumber used a fiber optic camera to find and rescue her cat, which had was stuck underground in a drain pipe.

Linda Grudi said her 3-year-old Maine Coon cat, Bud, was missing for four days before she heard faint cries from a vent near one of her downspouts that connects with the pipe, The Patriot-News newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa., reported Wednesday.

Grudi said firefighters and neighbors attempted to pinpoint Bud's location in the 200-foot-long pipe by digging holes in her yard but she said she worried that they wouldn't find the cat before expected thunderstorms flooded the pipe. the newspaper said.

She said she phoned Dave Jones, a Roto-Rooter franchisee, after one of the firefighters suggested she employ a plumber to search the pipe with a high-tech camera. She said Jones used a fiber-optic camera to find Bud wedged about 121 feet from the opening of the pipe, dug to the location, cut the pipe and lured the feline to safety with a cat treat.

Grudi said the rescue cost her about $800.

"The cat was free. The rescue was priceless," Grudi told The Patriot-News. "It was well worth it."