Woman Calls 911 Saying "Her Baby"Was Trapped

[David]

Turns out "Baby" is the name of her cat. Should she be charged? AP
Call for trapped 'baby' ends with cat rescue

12:49 PM CST on Thursday, December 1, 2005

Associated Press

HOUSTON - Many people treat their pets like children, but a woman is in legal trouble after calling 911 and claiming that her "baby," which turned out to be a cat named Baby, was stuck in the sewer.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, called the Houston Fire Department three times saying that her cat was stuck in the sewer, according to police. On the fourth call the woman said her 2-year-old baby was stuck in the sewer.

The firefighters arrived expecting to find a child, but rescued the feline from the sewer anyway. Police gave the woman a ticket for making a false report, a Class B misdemeanor.

"They said they were desperate, didn't know what else to do," Houston Fire Department Capt. Keith Ellery told Houston television station KPRC. "They didn't know who else to call so they called 911. It is not the type of rescue we normally do ... but on this particular incident, we felt compelled to kind of help them out."

Members of the woman's family tried to rescue the cat themselves before calling for help.