--- description: The officers went and above and beyond to rescue a tiny, four-legged kitty. title: Tampa Police Officers Rescue Kitten Trapped in Manhole image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Police Rescue Kitten Trapped in Manhole  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 7, 2015 5:56 PM CUT  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 7, 2015 5:56 PM CUT Police officers in Tampa went above and beyond by going underground to rescue a newborn kitten on Saturday. The Tampa Police Department said in a Facebook post that Officers Dwight Vinkemulder and Matthew Drumsta were answering a call from a “conscientious citizen” who heard the kitten’s cries when they discovered the cat in the manhole. It is unclear how the kitten fell into the manhole, but it is healthy and expected to make a full recovery, the police department said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/"},"headline":"Police Rescue Kitten Trapped in Manhole","datePublished":"2015-09-07T17:56:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:24:22.881Z","description":"A resident heard the kitten's cries and called dispatchers","url":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","police","Florida","local"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/","name":"Police Rescue Kitten Trapped in Manhole"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside New York's First Cat Cafe","description":"Meet the cats of NYC's first cat cafe, Meow Parlour, and hear more about the growing trend of paying to play with cats from the cafe's two owners.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0MiiFeak/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-12T19:30:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0MiiFeak.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4024447/tampa-police-rescue-kitten-manhole/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```