Molly the cat rescued in NYC, has eight lives left

Molly the cat rescued in NYC, has eight lives left

Last Updated Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:35:31 EDT
CBC News

America's most famous cat was rescued from what would have been her brick tomb this weekend after a team of construction workers smashed the walls of a building and crawled inside to find her.

Molly, an 11-month-old black cat, had been trapped for 14 days inside the bowels of a New York City building as crowds outside listened to her piteous cries for help.

Nobody knows how Molly became trapped inside the Greenwich Village building. But she apparently took time off from her job of catching mice in a local delicatessen and went exploring.

She crawled through a tiny space behind the delicatessen and ended up lost in the pipes and beams in the walls of the 157-year-old building.

Passersby heard her frantic calls for help and called for rescuers.

Construction crews came and worked around the clock to extricate the cat. They drilled and hammered out bricks. They pushed tiny cameras through the cracks to look for her. They used cat food and baby kittens to attract her. They even called in a pet psychic and a cat therapist to offer a hand.

Soon crowds appeared, followed by newspaper reporters and television crews, who made the missing Molly an international celebrity.

Molly was finally rescued after local tunnel worker Kevin Clifford crawled through a hole that his fellow workers had drilled in the wall at the back of the store.

"I think you'll all agree that she is in great shape," said a grateful Peter Myers, the owner of the delicatessen where Molly kept the mice at bay.