Kitten rescue sees four families in O Tau unite to save lives, with partial success

Four families in O Tau combined yesterday morning (15 April) in heavy rain to rescue five kittens. It started when Katherine of No. 35 began yelling there were kittens in the drain that runs through the village.
Her husband joined her and could hear the yowling, but not see the little animals. He called over two boys who live nearby and their father. These boys are 12 and 10 years old and they scampered around the undergrowth looking for the kittens. Two more neighbours arrived, one with a fascinated four year old boy in tow. His mum turned up too with a babe of about four months, who slept through the drama.
Slats were pulled off the drain and two kittens hauled out. Three more were spotted in the garden and nabbed. All were ginger and stripey and maybe four weeks old, eyes open, teeth developed. Mum cat lurked nearby, giving us a Mistophelean glare.
A box was found and the kittens put in it with towels for warmth. A metal sign was placed over it to keep the rain off.  The mother cat could get into the box and look after the kittens, the neighbours reasoned.  They went home.

One of the men called Emily Allington of Hong Kong Cats. Emily said she could find foster homes for the kittens and the Mum should be trapped and spayed, otherwise in a few months it will all happen again. The bloke went out to fetch the kittens and look after them with his wife until the foster carer showed up. Only two kittens were left.  Mum cat and the other three little ones had disappeared. The couple put the two kittens in a shoebox wrapped in towels. Exhausted after who knows how much trauma the kittens just slept. Two hours later one began yowling, so Katherine fed it milk with an eye dropper. She woke the other and fed it too.
At 5pm foster carer Flo turned up to take the two lucky ones away. The villagers will watch for Mum cat and the other three, hoping the mother can be trapped, spayed and the feline family reunited.