By Burak Milli
HATAY, Turkey (AA) - For one stray feline from southern Turkey, with the help of a patient animal lover, her “jarhead” days are finally a thing of the past.
Coal, a black cat prowling the streets of the Hatay province, was only trying to drink some milk near a trash dumpster when she had the misfortune of getting her head stuck in a jar.
All but the neck of the jar were broken somewhere along the way, allowing the poor cat to breathe, eat, and drink, but leaving her at serious risk of cuts from the jagged glass.
Local cat-lovers and firefighters tried to coax the cat closer to help it out of the dangerous glass collar, but the skittish Coal fled her would-be rescuers.
Finally, after 10 days of misery, a savior emerged: Hatice Yetis, 24, a young woman from outside Hatay who has a way with cats.
Yetis managed to earn Coal’s trust, and convinced it to let people to help her by removing the bottle from around her neck.
After a visit to the vet to make sure she had suffered no ill effects from her ordeal, Coal was released.
Yetis told Anadolu Agency that she had taken care of cats before so she knew how to deal with animals under stress and help them.
She said she got Coal to accept help by first feeding it and then using a laundry basket as a makeshift cage.
In this case, curiosity did not kill the cat, but with luck made it wiser.
*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas