Kat in the corner provides the Emmeloord fire brigade with a handful of work | Flevoland

Pip is extra cuddly and homely today, says Esmee Kampmann (27). “As if she realizes what a perilous adventure she has been through.” According to her, the three-year-old cat has an adventurous nature anyway – climbs up and in everywhere – but yesterday she made it very colorful.

,,I was home around half past nine last night and she is usually there. But after an hour I got restless and went into the neighborhood with cat treats. They are normally irresistible to her, but she was nowhere to be seen.” Esmee makes the circle a bit bigger and then hears some vague meowing in the distance.

,,I first looked in the trees, but the source turned out to be much lower to the ground. In our neighborhood you have a waterway with some decking above it. And Pip turned out to be stuck in that. Between the planks, just above the water. How do you get there huh! She’s quite fond of frogs, maybe she went after them.”

What to do? Because she has no good tools and it is already late. Even a helpful neighbor can do nothing. “In the end I called the fire brigade,” he said, somewhat embarrassed. But he too had his claws full.

At first an attempt was made to unscrew the decking, but they were so damaged by wind and weather that this was not possible. Meanwhile, a firefighter had put on a special wading suit to grab the cat from the shallow water, but that also failed.

In the end, heavy artillery turned out to be the only solution. A decking board was broken with a crowbar and with some patience and reassuring words Esmee got hold of Pip. Much to her relief: ,,Eventually you can laugh about it and you can tell a good story about it, but at the time I was quite confused!”