Cat Trespawsser Rescued from under Train Platform at Wallington Rail Station, London

Hello everyone!

We wanted to post an update on a rescue that occured today, that has truly warmed our hearts looking at the support and responses.

On a daily basis, our small rescue team here at Wallington Animal Rescue never quite know what to expect or what we're going to get called out to. Today was a prime example of this, and presented a huge challenge for the team though.

Trespawsser on the tracks

On the 20th December 2022 at around 7am, our team was alerted via social media and multiple phonecalls about to a cat hiding in a rescess of the Southbound platform at Wallington Station.

Immediately, our team were concerned for 1) the safety of the curious cat, but 2) due to the fact it's a difficult situation from a safety point of view for our small team; we cannot risk anybody on live tracks and in such a dangerous situation.

What followed over the next few hours was incredible and took up all of our resources...

The rescue begins...

Thanks to residents of the local area tagging Network Rail on social media, we went from Network Rail refusing to turn off the power (we can understand why on a mainline and for safety reasons), to full co-operation and assistance from them.

After some discussion, we agreed a 10 minute line block on all North and South bound trains. In these 10 minutes, we swiftly approached the fluffy trespasser and got him safely into a cage, away from the railway tracks.

We cannot praise the team at Network Rail enough for stepping up to the mark to help us rescue the cat; thank you Johnnie, Natalie, Joel and Wayne for everything you did today and for working with us on this. Thank you to everybody who took to social media and help saved this little guy.

We managed to grab the male cat from the track thankfully; safe and secured.

Getting back on track... home

Meanwhile, back on social media, a local resident of Wallington created a post, sharing photos of her beautiful but missing cat called 'Big Love'. Hundreds of Facebook users had shared their post, commenting advice and letting them know they're keeping an eye out for their beautiful, fluffy Norwegian Forest Cat.

Finally, this evening; after a trip to the vet to check for a chip, we are extremely happy to say that the cat was chipped, and was indeed the fluffy adventourer himself; Big Love. (great name, by the way!)

He had been missing since the 16th November. This is why we encourage having your pets chipped so much, it could save them from trouble some day!

Big Love's owners were quickly notified and within an hour, and he was returned to his warm home with a greatful and emotional owner. Big Love was safe, with plenty of food and comfort once again.

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Thank you, everyone.

We'd just like to thank everybody involved today on this extremely successful rescue today; from the original poster who shared the photo of the hidden cat on Facebook, to the people who shared and helped gain us attention from who we needed, to National Rail team for your care and support in allowing us to help, and as always to everyone who supports us every day. Your support, no matter how small, helps us help animals like Big Love who deserve to be safe and warm.

Thank you for your ongoing support for what we do. x

Stay safe and enjoy wonderful festive holidays!

Team WAR