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Cat rescued after being trapped in letterbox in Bukit Batok

Cat rescued after being trapped in letterbox in Bukit Batok

A cat was trapped inside a letterbox along Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 on Sep 8. (Photo: Facebook/Nurhayati Hashim)

SINGAPORE: A SingPost officer had to be called in on Friday (Sep 8) to rescue a cat which was stuck inside a letterbox at a housing board block at Bukit Batok West Avenue 8.

A resident, Ms Nurhayati Hashim, was on her way home in the afternoon when she was startled by sounds of a cat mewing from inside a letterbox. Her videos of the incident have since gone viral on Facebook, with about 4,000 shares and more than 600 comments as of Saturday afternoon. 

The videos show a black cat sticking its paws out of the slat, struggling to get out of the letterbox. Passers-by are heard trying to calm it down.

"I panicked at first but did not want to leave because I knew a cat was trapped in there," Ms Nurhayati told Channel NewsAsia.

According to her, she contacted the Bukit Batok Town Council but was told to contact SingPost instead. SingPost later told her to call the Housing Development Board (HDB), which redirected her to the town council.

Ms Nurhayati decided to go up to the unit stated on the letterbox, but said that the woman in the flat at that time did not understand English. The woman contacted her daughter-in-law who told Ms Nurhayati that the flat's tenant was overseas and had taken the letterbox key with him.

Ms Nurhayati said she went down again to the letterbox and called the police who eventually contacted SingPost. She added that an officer from the postal service arrived at the scene in about 30 minutes and opened the column of mailboxes to free the cat.

The entire process - from the time the cat was discovered to the rescue - took about an hour, according to Ms Nurhayati.

The animal was not injured and some residents offered it some food and water before letting it go.

Replying to Channel NewsAsia's queries, a SingPost spokesperson said its inspector of post "responded immediately" after being alerted to the incident. 

"We acted immediately with concerns about animal welfare as well," said the spokesperson, adding that this is the first incident involving an animal trapped in a letterbox.

Source: CNA/aa

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