Dingwall abattoir staff save cat from the chop
A FORTUNATE feline is recovering from her ordeal after being spared a grisly end.
Holly, as she has since been nicknamed, was found by wide-eyed workers in a pitiful state at the bottom of a massive waste container used to transport animal by-products from Dingwall to Dumfries.
Had she not been spotted by an eagle-eyed member of staff at John M. Munro's abattoir and cutting plant in Dingwall's West End, the hapless cat would have faced almost certain death as the container in which she was found is filled on a weekly basis with tons of waste which is then taken to Dumfries for processing.
And while mystery surrounds her unexpected appearance in Dingwall, efforts are now focussed on getting Holly home for Christmas – if her owner can be found.
Abattoir worker Graham Fraser, who retrieved Holly from her perilous predicament, said: "There are huge trailers at the back of the plant which are used to take away the waste. We always check for seagulls and when one of our lads checked it on Tuesday, he thought he saw something moving about. He looked closer and saw that it was a cat. You couldn't imagine a worse place for an animal to be really. He tried to get her out but the poor thing was beside herself. I went in with gloves and a net and eventually managed to get her out.
"She was in a sorry state, so dirty I couldn't even tell what colour it was and absolutely soaked. We borrowed a dog basket from our neighbours Animal Health next door and took it to the vet. I went back the day after as I was keen to see how she was getting on. The lads at work were all asking too. What a difference! It's a very friendly cat – I think she would take to anybody. I went up to Iona's Munlochy Animal Aid Shelter on Saturday to see how she was and to bring some food. She is like a different creature."
Muir of Ord-based Mr Fraser said he was baffled as to how Holly found herself in the container., He said getting in would involve climbing up a ladder: "I would be very interested to see how she would do that."
The possibility that she made the trip from Dumfries in an empty trailer has not been discounted, though the plant there too is carefully controlled.
Iona Nicol of the Munlochy Animal Aid shelter, Holly's home for the meantime, said of the unchipped cat: "I think she's used one or two of her nine lives after that. Now we'd like to get her home for Christmas if we can."