Ashley Funk didn’t wake up expecting to become a hero. But during a torrential downpour on her family’s homestead, that’s exactly what happened when she discovered a litter of newborn kittens trapped under a flooded coop, and dug them out with nothing but a stick, her bare hands, and a whole lot of grit.
A stormy start
The story began after a recent summer storm dumped buckets of rain on Funk’s rural property.
“We had flooding across the whole yard,” Funk said. “It was pouring so hard I had to go out and trench around my garden to keep it from washing away.”
Ashley’s mind was already on high alert. One of her cats, Marshmallow, had been missing for nearly a day, and she knew something wasn’t right.
“She was very pregnant and I could tell she was going into labor,” Funk said. “But she hadn’t come when I called her, and that’s not like her.”
A mud-covered plea for help
Then came the sound that changed everything: a desperate meow from the far end of the garden.
“I saw her barreling through the mud, soaked, brown, and clearly no longer pregnant,” Funk said. “That’s when I knew. She had her babies somewhere, and something was wrong.”
Marshmallow led Funk straight to the pheasant coop, which floods every time it rains. The only place left for Marshmallow to give birth was underneath it.
“There was maybe an inch and a half of clearance under the coop,” Funk explained. “There’s no way I could get under there but I could hear the kittens crying.”
A desperate dig
With water rising and her husband still searching for a shovel, Funk did what any determined animal lover would do: she dropped to the ground and started digging with a stick, and her own hands.
“I went full panic mode,” she said. “I was laying in a puddle, covered in mud and chicken manure, clawing at the earth. My nails still have mud under them.”
One by one, she pulled kittens out from under the coop. Each time, her husband would hand them off to the kids to dry and warm up.
“I told my kids, ‘Treat them like tacos. Wrap them up, keep them warm!’” she laughed.
When all else fails, send the cat back in
Two kittens remained out of reach. Funk couldn’t dig any farther. That’s when she turned to the one who knew exactly where they were.
“I grabbed Marshmallow by her front legs and back legs and shoved her under the coop,” Funk said. “I told her, ‘Go get your babies!’ And she did. She came out with one kitten, then I sent her back in again. She brought another.”
Even after all that, Funk paused as she was walking away and heard one last faint cry. One more dig. One last kitten.
“They were all lethargic, soaking wet. I honestly don’t know how long they’d been lying in that water,” she said.
Safe, dry, and purring
Thanks to Funk’s fast thinking, and Marshmallow’s motherly instincts, all five kittens survived.
“They’re perfect now,” Funk smiled. “They’re warm, dry, and nursing. We saved them all.”
For Funk, who already shares her homestead with a sizeable cat collection (thanks in part to a neighbour’s overly friendly tomcat), the rescue was never in question.
“People drop cats off at our place all the time,” she said. “I can’t say no. If I can help, I will. That’s just who I am.”
A heart for animals and a home full of them
Funk’s furry rescue may have added five more little mouths to feed, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Snakes, mice, we don’t have any,” she joked. “The cats have that covered. They earn their keep.”
As for the aftermath of the rescue?
“Well,” she said, glancing at her mud-stained nails, “I might never get my hands clean again, but it was worth it.”