Curiosity got the better of one cat in northwest England who broke into a prison.
But the poor puss, called Padfoot, ended up having to be rescued after stranding himself on a 25-foot-high razor-wire fence some 164-feet inside the security perimeter of Haverigg Prison in Millom, Cumbria.
Welfare workers for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals rescued the 8-month-old feline on Dec. 21 after inmates and staff spotted him in the perilous position.
“This was one great escape!” said Martyn Fletcher, an inspector for the RSPCA.
“I have no idea how he managed to get so far inside the prison and so high up the fence, maybe he considered himself a bit of a feline felon,” he added in a statement sent to HuffPost on Friday.
Fletcher said Padfoot almost fell on numerous occasions “but managed to grasp the wire and pull himself to safety.” “The poor cat was very scared and reluctant to be rescued,” he added. “It took a lot of patience, some ladders and a reach and rescue pole to be able to bring him to safety.”
The cat suffered minor cuts to his paws from his escapade and, because he was not microchipped, Fletcher decided to temporarily take him in.
“He’s such a lovely cat, I didn’t want to put him into a cattery over Christmas and New Year so I took him home with me where he could chill out for the festivities,” he explained.
Padfoot, named after Sirius Black’s moniker in “Harry Potter,” was reunited with his owner Angela Driver Swales on Christmas Eve, however, after she heard about his adventure from neighbors. She now plans to microchip him. “He’s now become a bit famous, there have been lots of jokes about him breaking into the prison, as you can imagine,” she said.
