NYC: Molly the Cat Finally Rescued After 14 Days

During the ordeal, the media hubbub grew apace, and cat agnostics grumbled about folderol.

For the past two weeks, Molly, a mouser of wandering disposition for the British specialty food shop, had been ensnared or spooked or disoriented somewhere between two buildings on Hudson Street, possibly in a dank, narrow 30-foot-long horizontal space at basement level.

Until last night, nothing had enticed Molly out of the darkness. Still, her faint meows could be heard.

Without food, rescue workers said, Molly might have lasted for three weeks at most. Even if she had caught an occasional mouse for food and licked the walls for moisture, they said, her situation had been urgent.

Earlier yesterday, Josh Schermer, a volunteer who had helped in the search for the last 11 days and had heard Molly's cries, said, "She sounds like she wants to get out more now."

widening holes they started earlier in the week. They were searching the space between 634 Hudson Street, where Molly would catch mice for Myers of Keswick, the British food shop, and 632 Hudson, which houses Hudson Bar and Books.

Feraz Mohammed, a city animal control officer, said an anonymous donor concerned about Molly's plight had pledged to cover the rescue costs, including the drilling of holes. Mr. Mohammed did not elaborate.

Last night, rescuers had put out more traps in hopes of enticing Molly.

In a drizzly rain, crowds of bystanders ebbed and flowed yesterday on this corner near Horatio Street, sometimes pressing against the yellow police caution tape.

Cat lovers, including an elderly man wearing a pin with a cat wearing a halo and wings, watched expectantly. He kept blowing a dog whistle in a fruitless attempt to coax Molly out.

Maxine Albert ("I'm a psychic, but I also do pets") stood on the sidewalk, shouting down into the basement where rescuers worked. "I feel the cat in the wall on the lower left-hand side," she shouted. "My image is she is trapped."

A second psychic, who did not identify herself to reporters, tried to take her message directly to a City Department of Buildings inspector who appeared to rebuff her. She reacted with anger.

Rescuers had tried, to no avail, a pet psychologist, drills, high-tech miniature cameras on cables, cat food and raw fish, as well as oral enticements, presumably including the smacking noises peculiar to cat owners.

Outside the shop, a half-dozen television crews, as well as radio and print reporters, milled about, as pbutters-by hurled drive-by derision. "You need to get out of here," said one. Another shouted, "This is the fine journalism of New York City!"

Lanie Kagan, who lives across the street and knows Molly, said, "At first I thought this was sweet, but now it's just insane." She added, "This has turned into a spectacle about a spectacle."

Molly's meow had been heard round the world.

At one point, the Internet search engine Google counted at least 359 articles about Molly posted on the Web, including dispatches in The Sun in Britain, The Independent in South Africa, Leading the Charge in Australia and La Tribune in France ("Sauvetage difficile pour la chatte Molly � New York").

Apparently, curiosity hurt the cat, according to Mr. Myers, whose store specializes in delicacies like Scotch eggs and Cumberland sausage.

Molly had last been seen on March 31 at the shop when at some point she ran away and into a media circus.

After Molly was rescued, Mr. Myers said that the cat would spend the night at his daughter's apartment, but would return to the store today.

He said he did not think Molly would repeat her disappearing act. "I'd like to think she might have learned a lesson," he said.

Colin Moynihan and Anahad O'Connor contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times

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AP - Apr 15, 2006

NYC Cat Finally Rescued After 14 Days

By TIM McCAHILL buttociated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Molly the cat is finally free. After two weeks stuck behind a brick wall in a 19th century building, the bashful 11-month-old feline was rescued from her plight Friday night by a volunteer who found her wedged in a crawl space between bricks and a piece of sheet metal.

At the end of the ordeal, the black cat emerged from the building lying in a metal cage - calm and docile as cameras flashed and onlookers cooed.

"I think you'll all agree that she is in great shape," said Peter Myers, who owns the delicatessen housed in the building and kept Molly in his store to catch mice.

Her first meal? Nibbles of roasted pork, sardines in oil and water, Myers said.

Hearty fare, but perhaps not surprising for a feline who spends her time in Myers of Keswick, a deli specializing in meat pies, clotted cream and other British food specialties.

Molly's ordeal became international news this week as reporters and onlookers gathered to hear her distressed meows. Rescuers drilled and hammered out bricks in the cellar of the 157-year-old building and tried everything from special cameras to traps to get her out.

They even tried using kittens as bait to appeal to Molly's maternal side. A pet psychic and self-described "cat therapist" offered their aid. But it appeared that good, old-fashioned elbow grease ended up doing the job.

Resuers drilled a hole in the wall from inside the store, cutting through three layers of brick to get to Molly, said Mike Pastore, field director for Animal Care & Control, a private organization with a city contract to handle lost, injured and unwanted animals.

She was finally retrieved by a tunnel worker who was working on a project nearby and has been volunteering for the rescue effort.

� 2006 The buttociated Press.

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