{"id":30624,"date":"2023-11-16T01:52:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T08:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-firefighters-rescue-fleeing-feline-from-storm-drain\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:22:07","slug":"durango-firefighters-rescue-fleeing-feline-from-storm-drain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-firefighters-rescue-fleeing-feline-from-storm-drain\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango firefighters rescue fleeing feline from storm drain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Allen Ottman exits a storm drain with Olive, a 4-year-old black cat, that he and fellow firefighters rescued on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. The cat\u2019s owners, Josh and Kristina Antal, called firefighters after being unable to coax Olive out themselves in the Three Springs subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Olive is usually content staying close to home, where she has food, water and a cat house.<\/p>\n

But for reasons known only to Olive, the 4-year-old black cat went for a stroll Wednesday afternoon. She likely exited via a kitty door in the garage of her home in Durango\u2019s Three Springs subdivision.<\/p>\n

And by intuitions known only to the human mother of a beloved cat, Kristina Antal had a hunch something was wrong with Olive.<\/p>\n

\"Olive,
Olive, a 4-year-old cat, was rescued Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, from a storm drain in the Three Springs subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t find her,\u201d said Josh Antal, Kristina\u2019s husband. \u201cWe were looking and just called her name, and we started hearing some meows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meows were coming from the street. They thought maybe Olive crawled into the engine compartment of a vehicle, so they began looking there \u2013 but didn\u2019t find her.<\/p>\n

Olive is equipped with an Apple AirTag, a tracking device that can be triggered remotely to make beeping sounds.<\/p>\n

The Antals heard the beeps coming from a storm drain.<\/p>\n

They tried to coax Olive out of the storm drain for about an hour before calling the Durango Fire Protection District.<\/p>\n

\"Kristina
Kristina and Josh Antal head down into the storm drain to help rescue their cat, Olive, on Wednesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Durango
Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Allen Ottman along with Josh and Kristina Antal hold onto Olive, their cat, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Firefighters opened several maintenance holes and crawled inside. One firefighter followed her down a long corridor, while another stood at the other end. In total, three firefighters entered the storm drains trying to block Olive\u2019s routes of escape.<\/p>\n

But the former street cat is a bit skittish, and she\u2019s quick on her paws. She escaped capture on several attempts. Eventually, Kristina Antal crawled into the storm drain and helped nab the fleeing feline.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t without consequence.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Jordan Ashby pulls firefighter Allen Ottman out of a storm drain Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, as he holds Olive, a 4-year-old black cat that became entered the storm drain. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kristina and Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Allen Ottman suffered small bites and scratches as they captured the feline. After about 30 minutes, the frightened kitty was swaddled in a coat and returned to her garage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a huge help,\u201d Josh Antal said of the fire department. \u201c \u2026 They did awesome. They showed up and real quick they were able to trace her in the pipe and find where she was. \u2026 So yeah, grateful for those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Jordan Ashby talks with Olive\u2019s owners Josh and Kristina Antal on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, as they attempt to rescue their cat out of a storm drain. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Durango
Durango Fire Protection District firefighter Allen Ottman releases Olive back into her garage Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in the Three Springs subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olive, a 4-year-old black cat, didn\u2019t surrender easily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,28,3457],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-headlines","tag-three-springs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81142,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30624\/revisions\/81142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30624"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}