Kitten rescued from hotel in a 'hole' lot of trouble Published duration 23 August 2017

image copyright Herts Fire and Rescue image caption The kitten was grubby but unharmed after being rescued from inside the hotel wall

A kitten found itself in a "hole" lot of trouble after getting stuck inside a void in a hotel wall.

Staff at the Sun Hotel in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, heard its cries and eventually realised the meowing was coming from inside the wall.

They believe a stray gave birth in the loft space and the female kitten wandered off and fell through a hole.

Firefighters had to cut through a wall and reach up to bring her to safety. She has now been rehomed.

The hotel's night porter noticed the kitten's plaintive mews on Monday night.

"We spent the morning trying to work out where it was and how on earth it got there - and then we called the fire service," events manager Zoe Hick said.

image copyright Herts Fire and Rescue Service image caption It is thought the kitten was born after a stray got into a loft space

Firefighters had to saw a hole in the wall in order to rescue the kitten, which is just a few weeks old.

She was grubby, but otherwise unharmed, Miss Hick said.

"We've seen a stray cat around and noticed yesterday she went up the fire escape and under a roof tile.

"We think she's given birth up there and this little one made a getaway, but ended up falling through the roof into the wall."

The kitten has now been adopted by a volunteer for Cats Protection who came to collect her, but "ended up falling in love with her", Miss Hick added.

image copyright Zoe Hick image caption Hotel staff looked after the kitten until a rescue charity took her to be checked by a vet

The charity plans to return with humane traps to try to rescue the mother cat and any other kittens to prevent the others from getting into a similar predicament.

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said while it was happy to carry out specialist animal rescues, "our crews will always prioritise incidents which involve any risk to humans".