Cat-acombs ordeal! Feline trapped under St. Paul’s Cathedral rescued by RSPCA

Burmese cat saved after falling down chute at landmark

A cat who disappeared into an underground basement at St.Paul’s Cathedral has been rescued by the RSPCA.

The feline tumbled 15 feet down a shaft near to the outer walls of the Grade I listed central London landmark and ended up trapped in the dark basement below the cathedral.

Fortunately, a schoolgirl who realised the cat’s predicament after watching her dash through a narrow opening at ground level at St. Paul’s Churchyard contacted the RSPCA. 

When the charity’s Animal Rescue Officer (ARO) Sidonie Smith went to the churchyard on the evening of Tuesday, July 2 the cathedral had closed for the day. But with the permission of on-site security, and accompanied by a security officer, the RSPCA rescuer climbed down beneath the three-centuries old Anglican cathedral to search for the cat equipped with a strong torch and a carrier.

“We were called by a young teenager who was playing in the churchyard after school and she’d seen the cat run off and vanish underneath a slab of concrete. She was very upset, but she was able to give me a W3W geotrack location of the point where the cat had disappeared and I went to it. When I spoke to security about gaining access it turned out it was an opening down to an old storage basement that apparently no-one has used a key to get down to for 25 years,” explained the animal rescue officer.

“There were some steep, narrow stairs down and it was pitch black where you entered a large chamber, which had lots of corridors attached to it at higher levels.

“Fortunately, the cat had fallen onto a bed of leaves and she was largely unscathed. She’d shot through the gap above and dropped down into the basement. She was very nervous and frightened, no doubt through the shock of falling from height, and I had to grasp hold of her. 

“I leaned on the chute to reach up to the spot where she landed. She was covered in fleas and she had a slight graze on her chin, but, happily, nothing was broken and she was able to move around.”

The rescued cat turned out to be a grey-coloured Burmese female who was microchipped. After contacting the registered owner, who claimed he’d sold the cat four years ago, the RSPCA officer placed a number of ‘found’ posters around the churchyard and grounds of St.Paul’s.

Sidonie took the cat, who was also suffering from hair loss, to RSPCA Finsbury Park Animal Hospital for treatment and staff at the hospital have named her ‘Paula’ because of the location she was found at.

In all, ‘Paula’ spent more than four hours trapped under the cathedral. After her stay at Finsbury Park she is ready to be moved to RSPCA Leybourne Animal Centre near West Malling in Kent, where staff will seek to find someone who can provide her a loving home and, hopefully, a danger-free life.

The animal rescue officer is also contacting the Diocese of London, who manage St.Paul’s, to highlight the perils posed to smaller animals by the ground-level access to the shaft on St.Paul’s Churchyard.

The RSPCA receives more reports of cruelty in summer than at any other time of year. That’s why we’ve launched the RSPCA Summer Cruelty Appeal, because it’s vital that we all take action together to help animals. If you believe that no animal deserves cruelty, please donate now to help animals as abuse reaches its awful peak this summer.