“[Please] help …”
Published on Nov 21, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Earlier this month, San Antonio Animal Care Services (San Antonio ACS) officer Rosemarie Tutak got a call about a cat stuck in a storm drain. She didn’t get many details about the trapped animal, but quickly made her way to the scene to help.
When she arrived at the address, she looked for the cat but couldn’t find her. As she was searching around, three young children and their father came out of their house and told her that earlier that day, they’d spotted a tiny kitten in a storm drain down the street.
The kids, concerned about the kitten and desperate for someone to save her, had written a note alerting passersby about the baby.
Tutak made her way over to where the kids had left their note and immediately started hearing faint meows. She lifted the manhole cover covering the drain, peered down inside, and, sure enough, saw a little calico kitten.
“The entire family was watching her from across the street,” Lisa Norwood, public relations manager for San Antonio ACS, told The Dodo.
Tutak wasn’t able to safely descend into the drain herself, so she quickly devised a plan to save the baby. She lowered a blanket attached to a rope into the hole, hoping the kitten would understand and latch onto it.
“The kitten grabbed on and clutched onto the blanket, and she was able to pull the rope up with the little kitten attached to it,” Norwood said.
As soon as the cat was safely out of the drain, Tutak gave her some food, which she happily scarfed down. After inspecting the baby to make sure she wasn’t hurt, Tutak invited the kids to meet the kitten they’d helped save. They told Tutak that they’d decided to name her Mimi.
“The kids immediately came over, and she was able to assure them, ‘Hey, the kitten’s OK. I’ve already looked her over. Doesn’t appear she’s injured. She’s hungry, but she’s not injured,’” Norwood said.
Tutak transported Mimi back to the San Antonio ACS facility and allowed her to decompress after her ordeal. Before long, she caught the attention of an interested adopter, who she’ll be going home with after she’s spayed.
The three children are grateful that the struggling cat they found got rescued. But the way the San Antonio ACS staff members see it, the kids are the ones who saved her life.
“They’re the ones who saw … an animal in need,” Norwood said. “They’re the heroes.”