Cat miracle in Tyrol

Kitty rode in the engine compartment and survived the accident

Completely terrified, "Coco" looked out of the engine compartment at the mechanics.

(Bild: zVg)

Presumably to keep warm, a cat clambered into a minibus in Tyrol. The animal was discovered in the workshop in Innsbruck after a crash. Miraculously, the velvet paw had no injuries. Incredibly, the cat had escaped two months ago.

The extraordinary story from last Friday began on the Seefeld plateau. The driver of a company vehicle set off from there in the morning for Innsbruck. The driver stopped off there. At this point - or already on the plateau - the tiger cat must have "got in".

Accident and towing
He then set off again with the stowaway in the engine compartment of the minibus - but at around 11 a.m. he was involved in an accident in the provincial capital. The car was eventually towed away and taken to Toyota Ellensohn on Haller Straße.

"Coco" initially recovered at the Mentlberg animal shelter.

(Bild: zVg)

Suddenly, two eyes sparkled towards
There, workshop manager David Delvai wanted to inspect the damage at around 2 pm. He opened the hood, shone his light into the engine compartment - and was startled! "Two eyes sparkled at me," the Volderer told the "Krone" newspaper. At first, he suspected a marten behind the glittering "diamonds".

It was located between the intercooler and the bumper - exactly where there had been a crash.

David Delvai, Werkstättenleiter

But far from it: the eyes belonged to a completely terrified velvet paw. "It was between the intercooler and the bumper - exactly where it had crashed," says Delvai - himself a cat and dog owner - shaking his head in disbelief.

Wasenmeister alerted
Delvai and his employees did not dare to free the cat from its prison. They were too worried that the completely terrified animal might fight back. "So we closed the hood so that the cat couldn't escape," says Delvai. He informed the Wasenmeister of the city of Innsbruck.

He arrived at around 3 p.m. and, wearing protective gloves, removed the stowaway from the engine compartment. The tiger cat hardly put up any resistance and appeared to be unharmed on the outside. Delvai: "We could hardly believe it, normally she would be crushed where she was cowering in an accident."

Workshop manager David Delvai shows where the stowaway was in the engine compartment.

(Bild: Peter Freiberger)

The vet was already waiting
The Wasenmeister took the female house cat to the Mentlberg animal shelter. The vet was already waiting there and examined the still quite young kitty. He confirmed the first impression: the cat was physically unharmed.

It's hard to imagine what the animal had experienced: a car ride under the hood, a collision, a tow - and the lucky rescue.

Cat without a chip
It was initially unclear who the cat belonged to because it was not chipped. For the time being, she recovered in the best of care at the animal shelter.

But there was a happy ending on Tuesday: the owner recognized her kitty on social media and picked her up. Unbelievable: the one-year-old "Coco" had escaped from her home in Innsbruck two months ago (!). So now she had a stroke of luck.