This cat went from the dump to the top cat!
A domestic cat rescued from a garbage bag at a Russian waste disposal plant seconds before his death has been named honorary assistant to the regional environment minister, according to the Moscow Times.
Video footage recorded earlier this week at the factory in the Ulyanovsk region of central Russia, workers are shown sorting waste along a conveyor belt when they got the surprise of a lifetime.
“The cat didn’t meow and the bag didn’t move,” the worker, Mikhail Tukash, reportedly told local television. “I had to cut the bag to screen it for metals. I was just doing my job. “
The video shows Tukash tearing open the bag to find the black and white cat, which he showed off to bewildered colleagues while comforting him.
Had the cat stayed on the assembly line, it would have been a few seconds to finish all nine of its lives, the Moscow Times reported, citing the factory director.
“We are taking the cat to our ministry and all employees will take responsibility for it,” said the region’s environment minister, Gulnara Rakhmatulina, according to the report.
The cat – who will be named through a contest – will serve as an honorary alternate responsible for wildlife protection.
Tukash and the factory director were also honored with letters of thanks.
Vets who examined the wayward cat found it to be healthy, well-fed, and probably homey.
“If you can’t keep an animal at home, you can always give it away to a shelter,” Rakhmatulina said, to the former owners who apparently thrown the cat away.
According to local television reports, at least three animals have already been rescued at the factory, which is about 430 miles east of Moscow: two red-eared sliders and an African hedgehog nicknamed Vezunka, the Russian word for ‘luck’.