CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) — Two kittens shut down part of the New York Subway for 90 minutes on Thursday as personnel cut the power to search for the felines.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended subway service on the B and Q lines between the Kings Highway and DeKalb Avenue stops in Brooklyn — about 6 miles of track — to search for two cats that were reported seen at about 11 a.m., MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
MTA workers began searching and had to cut the power to the third rail, which carries 600 volts of electricity.
“If you touch that third rail, you’re not going to make it — people and especially cats, anything that moves,” Ortiz said.
New Yorkers are accustomed to seeing critters, but it’s usually rats and mice scampering around the underground tunnels, leaving the alley cats above ground.
Even though the search was for a couple of friendly felines, some riders were not happy with the inconvenient suspension.
“It’s a waste of money. They could have been doing something else. It’s a waste of money. But that’s the MTA for you,” subway rider and former MTA employee Wilson Burton told CNN affiliate WABC.
The New York Police Department was brought onto the scene later in the day for crowd control.
“As the trains backed up, the crowds build up and people are late in their travels. We have to make sure everyone gets to their place safely,” Lt. Paul Ng of the NYPD said.
Though the sneaky cats were at large on the tracks for more than seven hours, they were eventually rescued at about 6:30 p.m., Ortiz said. They were taken to an animal shelter, police said.
The pair was found in the same spot where they were first sighted earlier in the day, despite the running trains and the re-electrified deadly third rail.
The-CNN-Wire
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