Rescue mission for cats stuck in Edmonton sinkhole enters day two

The fate of two cats trapped in an Edmonton sinkhole remains hairy as the rescue effort enters its second day.

Firefighters with Edmonton's technical rescue team were called Friday morning to rescue a pair of cats that fell intoa 14-foot trench beneath a home in the Kenilworth neighbourhood.

The crews stabilized the sinkhole with a wooden frame that doubles as a ladder for the catsbefore leaving the scene Friday afternoon.

• Edmonton firefighters stage technical rescue for 2 cats trapped in trench

Homeowner Rebecca Hung has been providing updates on social media as she tries to lure the cats to safety.

"We're just leaving them alone for now because I think they were very scared," she said Saturday afternoon. "We want to get them out."

The wooden frame also posed its own problems, narrowing the mouth of the sinkhole about four feet by three feet wide to begin with and making it harder to lower large traps to the bottom.

Hung was able to borrow traps from a local wildlife charity on Saturday. She planned to use Easter dinner leftovers to entice them to the top of the sinkhole and into the trap.

She suspects one of the cats might be pregnant, raising the stakes in the weekend rescue operation.

"Or it's just a very large cat. Either way, it's quite round in its mid-section," she said.

The sinkhole extends underneath the foundation of the house, so the cats aren't always visible from the top.

Hung said her husband lowered a GoPro, outfitted with a light, to the bottom on Saturday morning. They could only spot one black and white cat, although firefighters told them there was a second grey cat.

She plans to install a trail camera to monitor the sinkhole. If the cats hightail it overnight, Hung wants the footage.

National attention and hashtags

Hung was walking around the house with her Fridaymorning coffee, making preparations for spring, when she came across the sinkhole.

"As soon as I looked in the hole, there was the one black and white cat staring back at me," she said.

Hung's theory is that the sinkhole was previously a water well decades ago when the property was farmland. She suspects it collapsed on itself while she was away on vacation.

There didn't appear to be any structural damage to the house, Hung said, and she was waiting for a foundation repair company to return hercall.

The story has garnered national media attention and even spawned its own Twitter hashtag. The attention has been overwhelming at times, Hung said, but the reaction has been warmhearted.

"We're just happy that a lot of people care about these animals. It kind of just shows the compassion of Edmontonians and people in Canada."