Tiki, 20-year-old blind cat, saved in 'miracle' rescue from ice chunk in Massachusetts lake
A 20-year-old blind black-and-white cat was rescued from an icy Massachusetts pond this week, in what authorities called "nothing short of a miracle."
Tiki, who likes to roam around the outdoors, was seen Monday on a floating piece of ice before falling in the Nabnasset Lake in Westford.
The feline was saved when a passerby and a couple of nearby construction workers rose to the occasion.
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"The crackling happened, and I was like, hysterical," passerby Dawn Felicani recalled Thursday to The Associated Press. "And all of a sudden, it fell in! Its little head was sticking out! I’m in tears, and I’m freaking out."
Felicani called first responders and a local animal control officer. Two construction workers at a nearby home, identified by Westford Animal Control as Kris and Nate, got into a rowboat to respond.
"Nate hopped into a nearby rowboat and Kris pushed the boat out as far as he could, helping Nate navigate from shore," an animal control news release said. "Nate was able to utilize a shovel as he moved, breaking through the ice."
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"He quickly accessed the cat and plucked him from the water moments before he surely would have succumbed to the frigid cold," the agency added. "The cat was taken indoors, toweled off and wrapped up in blankets."
Tiki, who was in shock and was taken for veterinary care, where he was shivering and lethargic, authorities said. His temperature was so low that it didn't even register on the thermometer.
Tiki's owner, John Arden, told authorities he may have gotten out the night earlier in the early-morning hours.
"We believe that Tiki may have been chased onto the ice by a predator last night and found himself stuck on the ice floating straight across the lake through the night," animal control said.
Tiki was reunited with Arden and was doing fine, the Westford Police Department said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.