Liberating ‘Lucky’ Is A Story Unrivaled
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DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
The story about Lucky starts with one of the most interesting text messages I have received in a long time. Water Valley Fire Chief Mark McGavock sent it last Tuesday, a report that a feral cat trapped in the drain pipe in a city garbage dumpster had been successfully rescued:
“The fire department personnel completed a technical rescue of a cat between Nallies and First Baptist Church. It took several hours and required out-of-the-box thinking to successfully retrieve the feline, who was reported to be very excited to be freed from its entrapment. Capt. Josh Wedgeworth, Sgt. Will Carter, firefighter Lynn Dickinson, Chief Jason Mangrum, Supervisor Cayce Washington, Mayor Donald Gray and several bystanders assisted in extricating ‘Lucky” from the pipe.”
That was the official report, but it gets better. Tommy White had a front-row seat to the rescue and a full report on Lucky’s new lease on life. White explained that a man was walking his dog and stopped to look at a cat with his head stuck in a pipe. Sammy Anthony was driving by and stopped to see what was going on. Sammy checked in the church for help and Erik Fearing, Colton Horner and Leasie Gilley came out to see what was happening. They decided to call Chief Mangrum for help.
White continues, Mangrum and two police cars rolled up to the scene and the rescue effort got underway. White provided STP Oil treatment to help lube the cat’s head, and a ladder to get inside the dumpster, but it soon became evident that Lucky was in a tight spot.
Mangrum then reached out to McGavock, who responded with three other firefighters in Big Blue. The fire chief deemed the cat’s name Lucky and the work continued in earnest.
It took several hours to rescue “Lucky” after the feline stuck his head in a dumpster drain pipe. Local feline expert Ben Wright deemed that Lucky was down to seven-and-a-half lives after such a harrowing experience.
By this time the crowd had grown larger, and somebody decided they better call Mayor Donald Gray and let him know what was going on. He arrived a few minutes later to survey the scene and deemed the operation as an official training exercise.
“The mayor saved the day, he told them to keep working unless they had to respond to another call,” White explained.
Next somebody reached out to Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors President Cayce Washington. Cayce responded with a reciprocating saw that was used to cut through the metal, allowing firefighters to use the jaws of life to extricate Lucky. Brother Erik Fearing had a video of the cat’s rescue, and the story was picked up by WTVA news in Tupelo. It was quite a day and as White explained, “Upteen people from all of the government showed that they had a heart for that little cat.”
Now for the rest of the story about Lucky’s new lease on life. White contacted local veterinarian Elizabeth Wright and her husband, Ben Wright, and they picked him up after the rescue. They spent several days nursing the cat back to health and ole “Lucky” was neutered and wormed, along with all the other steps to prepare him for his new owners. The only problem, who would give the cat a home. White was frantically looking, he was the one who called Ben and Elizabeth and admittedly felt a little responsible for finding a place for Lucky to land.
White first reached out to Danny Bailey, thinking he might need a barn cat. Danny suggested contacting Gail Caldwell, but she already had four cats and was at her limit. Gail thought her brother may need a cat, and finally they had a new owner. Gail’s husband, Jamie Caldwell, picked Lucky up at White’s office Monday and is taking him to her brother where he will have a better life!
White’s breakfast crew who dine regularly out at Dunn’s Country passed the hat to cover Lucky’s vet tab.
“Even though Elizabeth wasn’t going to charge us a dime, the boys out there wanted to do that. We also bought a five-pound sack of cat food and put the cat in Jamie’s hands.”
The only problem is that Lucky is not yet convinced that things are looking up for him. He has been doing a lot of hissing at folks, but White thinks the new owners will be able to spend a little time and get him tamed.
Sounds like another feat, stay tuned and I will keep you updated.
