Black cat 'Dirty Gertie' rescued after two weeks trapped in bingo hall ceiling
Bingo hall staff feared the number was up for a starving kitten trapped in the ceiling.
The kitten has been rescued after spending two weeks trapped in a bingo hall ceiling.
The black cat was first spotted by staff running inside the light fittings on the 30ft high ceiling earlier this month.
But she evaded attempts by firefighters and animal charities to be captured - including a cage placed on a ledge with tinned tuna to lure it in - until now.
Manager Simon Philips finally managed to grab the young stray after spending two weeks building her trust by climbing a ladder and feeding her biscuits.
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The female six month old cat weighed just 4lbs (2.1kg) and was “absolutely starving” when she was finally rescued.
Bingo players spotted the cat stuck in the roof (Solent News & Photo Agency)She has been nicknamed 'Dirty Gertie' - the bingo name for 30 - as she was covered in soot.
Mr Philips, 41, who manages the Leo Leisure hall in Southampton, said: "We thought it probably got in as we've got builders working around us.
"She just wanted to get down. She had been there for so long that she knew we weren't going to hurt her.
"I stroked her and (brought her down) to the office. She was really friendly and went crazy for the food. She just wanted attention."
Dirty Gertie is now being cared for by a volunteer foster carer at a local animal charity.
The bingo hall manager, Simon Philips rescuing the cat from the roof (Solent News & Photo Agency)
It took two weeks to eventually get the black moggy safely down (Solent News & Photo Agency)She will be neutered, vaccinated and microchipped before being sent to her new home with a family of four.
Tracy Howe, operations director at the Cat Welfare Group, said: "We've called her Dirty Gertie - which is bingo for 30 - because she was exceptionally dirty when she came in.
"She was covered in what was almost like soot. She was probably a stray living on the streets before she somehow found her way into the ceiling.
"She's doing really well considering she was up there for two weeks. She was quite thin and you could see her backbone was pronounced.
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"She weight just 2.1kg but now she's 2.5kg and next week we hope to have got her up to 3kg."
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