Kitten rescued from cold N.Y. storm drain

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A fire chief in Oceanside, N.Y., says his firefighters saved the life of a frightened kitten by rescuing the animal from a frigid storm drain.

Oceanside Fire Chief Tim Biscay said after his wife, a Humane Society volunteer, learned about a kitten trapped inside a storm drain Saturday, the couple met up with firefighters and coaxed the animal from its cold hiding spot, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Biscay said the cat didn't respond initially to coaxing so a firefighter used a fire extinguisher to "spook" the kitten into the waiting arms of a rescuer.

"The poor little thing was pale and shaking -- he was probably hypothermic," Biscay said.

"He was definitely hypothermic," Dr. Jeffrey Strom of the Hilton Animal Hospital in Lynbrook, N.Y., told the Post. "But he's eaten and is in a warming cage, and he seems to be brightening up."

Strom said the kitten will be put up for adoption.