Celia Hammond, a former model who became one of London's most prominent cat catchers, said she caught the cat, which she named Blackjack, after months of hunting for the feline to save it from the impending construction, The Times of London reported Friday.

Hammond has caught 187 wild cats living in the future Olympic area. She said she had nearly given up hope of catching Blackjack until about 4 a.m. one day last week.

"I was catching the last of the local colony of cats, a tabby," Hammond said. "Suddenly it froze, as if it had seen the Devil, and shot off. I looked in the rear-view mirror."

"Blackjack was coming over the bridge from the Olympic site," she said. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

The cat catcher said Blackjack will have daily contact with handlers from the Celia Hammond Animal Trust to help him get used to human contact.

"He has calmed down a lot," said Hammond. "At first he was so wild, I thought he was feral. Now I think he must once have been someone's pet."