After a brief stint in a cold and dark storm drain near Colfax-Mingo High School last Wednesday, a feisty orange tabby cat is safe and sound above ground.

“Wednesday afternoon we got a call from the Colfax Chief of Police that there was a cat in a manhole near the high school, so a couple of our Animal Control Officers and I went to check it out,” said Jasper County Animal Rescue League Animal Control Officer Jill Harter.

“There was no ladder, and they wouldn’t let us climb down into it, so we made a contraption with a crate and lowered it down, but it didn’t work,” she added.