Cat among the pigeons, and the swans, is rescued

A cat who was stranded among the pigeons — and some ducks and swans too — was reunited with her owner yesterday after six months away from home.

Two-year-old Timera was finally rescued from the island at the centre of Cork City’s wildfowl refuge, The Lough, after city officials launched a complex cat-recovery-operation.

And remarkably, she was found less than half a mile from where her owner lives.

“I was shocked when I heard they’d found her,” a delighted Scott O’Brien, 25, from Togher said.

Scott, who runs Scott’s Barber Shop on College Rd, said his customers thought he was mad when he told them the story.

” I thought she’d been knocked down. But to think she’d been living down the Lough all this time is unbelievable.”

Timera’s plight was first highlighted by the city’s first citizen, Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy, who spotted the stranded cat while enjoying a walk around the lake.

Lough caretaker, Pat Carroll, and his team left little mounds of cat food at strategic locations on the island, and baited a cat trap with some tasty morsels.

When they went to check the trap yesterday, they found Timera cowering inside. Ms Clancy was on hand to welcome the wandering kitty back on to the mainland.

Meanwhile, a woman who was walking at the Lough had a lucky escape yesterday when a swan misjudged its takeoff, slammed into a tree, and crashed down just inches from her.

Local election candidate Barry Keane called for a full health and safety review and suggested signs be erected to alert pedestrians to the dangers of low-flying birds.