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In a purr-fect ending, a miner with a heart of gold searched until he rescued Molly the cat last night.
After spending 14 days stuck in the guts of a 19th-century West Village building, New York's famous fur ball was safe and sound and eating sardines.
The black cat's white knight was Kevin Clifford, 33, of Queens, a miner who loves animals and volunteered his after-work time to help save Molly.
Clifford, who is helping dig the city's new water tunnel downtown, gently eased the fugitive feline out of a 5-by-3-foot hole in a wall behind the counter in Myers of Keswick at 10:13 p.m.
"It feels like I just won the lottery," exulted Molly's owner, Peter Myers.
Rescuers, workers and customers in the British deli at 634 Hudson St. erupted in cheers and applause as Molly emerged in Clifford's strong hands - dusty, frightened, but okay.
Clifford, a gentle giant, said he feared "that I would hurt her. Her back legs were stuck in some sort of gutter system in the wall."
The rescue came after nearly four hours of digging at the wall with a power drill and other tools Clifford said he uses on his day job.
"I went at it brick by brick, piece by piece," Clifford said. His only regret: "I measured way off. I should have measured twice and cut once."
Eleven-month-old Molly's troubles began April 1 when she wandered into a narrow space between walls in the deli, where she was the official mouser, and got lost in a maze of beams and pipes.
Rescuers, who could hear her meows, had tried unsuccessfully to lure Molly out for the past two weeks.
Maybe sensing she'd milked her predicament to the hilt, Molly began meowing in earnest about 6:30 p.m., encouraging the rescuers.
After she was freed, Mike Pastore, field director for Animal Care & Control, said Molly "looks just fine but she may be a little dehydrated. She's going to be okay. She's actually looking very good and not very dirty for a cat that's been in a wall for two weeks."
Myers said Molly showed a healthy appetite after her rescue, feasting on sardines and roast pork and "drinking lots of water to bring her back to normality."
"She's eating very well and hopefully she'll be healthy enough to be back on the job Monday" - pending a checkup by a vet tomorrow.
Although Molly could "probably use a couple of days in the Bahamas," Myers said she'll be spending the night in his daughter's Manhattan apartment.
Although his deli is a bit of a mess, Myers and daughter Jennifer celebrated Molly's return with champagne and English ale.
Animal Care & Control said it was setting up "Molly's Fund" to raise money to repair the building.
The kitty cornered in the wall had drawn such widespread attention that she had become the city's newest attraction, touching the hearts of locals and tourists alike.
One of those moved by Molly's plight was 6-year-old Abby Fisher, who changed her North Carolina family's sightseeing plans earlier yesterday to offer her help to the wayward puss.
"Can I go in there and save the cat?" Abby asked a rescue worker as she sized up whether she could squeeze through a hole in the brick wall. "I just want to look in there and see if I can fit in."
With Elva Ramirez and Veronika Belenkaya
Here Kitty
That darn cat! Here are some of the ways rescuers tried to reach Molly:
Humane traps baited with mackerel
Entreaties from cat therapist Carole Wilbourn
Mewing kittens
Tiny video cameras
Recordings of whale and gull sounds
Pet psychic Maxine Albert
Removing bricks from landmarked building
Drilling holes in same
Animal Care & Control officers
NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers
Catnip
Originally published on April 15, 2006
In a purr-fect ending, a miner with a heart of gold searched until he rescued Molly the cat last night.
After spending 14 days stuck in the guts of a 19th-century West Village building, New York's famous fur ball was safe and sound and eating sardines.
The black cat's white knight was Kevin Clifford, 33, of Queens, a miner who loves animals and volunteered his after-work time to help save Molly.
Clifford, who is helping dig the city's new water tunnel downtown, gently eased the fugitive feline out of a 5-by-3-foot hole in a wall behind the counter in Myers of Keswick at 10:13 p.m.
"It feels like I just won the lottery," exulted Molly's owner, Peter Myers.
Rescuers, workers and customers in the British deli at 634 Hudson St. erupted in cheers and applause as Molly emerged in Clifford's strong hands - dusty, frightened, but okay.
Clifford, a gentle giant, said he feared "that I would hurt her. Her back legs were stuck in some sort of gutter system in the wall."
The rescue came after nearly four hours of digging at the wall with a power drill and other tools Clifford said he uses on his day job.
"I went at it brick by brick, piece by piece," Clifford said. His only regret: "I measured way off. I should have measured twice and cut once."
Eleven-month-old Molly's troubles began April 1 when she wandered into a narrow space between walls in the deli, where she was the official mouser, and got lost in a maze of beams and pipes.
Rescuers, who could hear her meows, had tried unsuccessfully to lure Molly out for the past two weeks.
Maybe sensing she'd milked her predicament to the hilt, Molly began meowing in earnest about 6:30 p.m., encouraging the rescuers.
After she was freed, Mike Pastore, field director for Animal Care & Control, said Molly "looks just fine but she may be a little dehydrated. She's going to be okay. She's actually looking very good and not very dirty for a cat that's been in a wall for two weeks."
Myers said Molly showed a healthy appetite after her rescue, feasting on sardines and roast pork and "drinking lots of water to bring her back to normality."
"She's eating very well and hopefully she'll be healthy enough to be back on the job Monday" - pending a checkup by a vet tomorrow.
Although Molly could "probably use a couple of days in the Bahamas," Myers said she'll be spending the night in his daughter's Manhattan apartment.
Although his deli is a bit of a mess, Myers and daughter Jennifer celebrated Molly's return with champagne and English ale.
Animal Care & Control said it was setting up "Molly's Fund" to raise money to repair the building.
The kitty cornered in the wall had drawn such widespread attention that she had become the city's newest attraction, touching the hearts of locals and tourists alike.
One of those moved by Molly's plight was 6-year-old Abby Fisher, who changed her North Carolina family's sightseeing plans earlier yesterday to offer her help to the wayward puss.
"Can I go in there and save the cat?" Abby asked a rescue worker as she sized up whether she could squeeze through a hole in the brick wall. "I just want to look in there and see if I can fit in."
With Elva Ramirez and Veronika Belenkaya
Here Kitty
That darn cat! Here are some of the ways rescuers tried to reach Molly:
Humane traps baited with mackerel
Entreaties from cat therapist Carole Wilbourn
Mewing kittens
Tiny video cameras
Recordings of whale and gull sounds
Pet psychic Maxine Albert
Removing bricks from landmarked building
Drilling holes in same
Animal Care & Control officers
NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers
Catnip
Originally published on April 15, 2006
