First pictures of hero cat whose meowing helped save owner, 83, who fell 70ft through barbed wire

The first pictures have emerged of the “very attached” cat who helped save his 83-year-old owner’s life after she fell 70ft (21m) through barbed wire, down a bank and into a stream, where she may have been stuck for hours.

Piran the black moggy was anything but unlucky, and drew the praise of the farmer who found the stranded woman.

Tamar Longmuir, 38, was informed of her missing neighbour by the woman’s friend on Saturday afternoon and immediately started searching her farm in Bodmin, Cornwall.

“I went off in my truck to search our farm and fields but there was no sign of her,” Ms Longmuir told Sky News.

She was joined by other members of her family who live and work on the farm.

The searchers then noticed Piran was sitting in the gate to one of the maize fields – meowing at them incessantly.

“This was unusual,” Ms Longmuir said.

“The cat is very attached to her, and he was going back and forth in the gateway and meowing, so I decided to go and search the maize field.”

The crop is currently 7ft high, with only a small track around the edge for access, so Ms Longmuir had to shout for her neighbour.

Ms Longmuir said: “I walked right around to the bottom of the field, calling the lady’s name.

“My cows could hear me calling and were mooing back – I was hoping they would go quiet so I could hear.

“Just as I was going to go off the path and start going through the crop, I heard a very faint response to my calling… I then quickly realised my neighbour was down the 70ft ravine.

“She had gone through the barbed wire and was laying in the stream – we think she had been in there for hours.”

Ms Longmuir managed to scramble down the incline to get to the pensioner, and checked her over for major injuries – but there didn’t appear to be any, even from the barbed wire.

“I came off worse than she did,” the farmer said.

The 38-year-old had to scramble halfway up the bank and hang off a branch to get a single bar of service on her phone, allowing her to call other members of the search party, who rang 999 and came to help.

Ms Longmuir said: “They all arrived quickly, 12 vehicles and about 25 crew from all the emergency services.

“After about two hours she was carried up to safety and into the air ambulance.

“Without the cat waiting at the gate to that field, it could have been hours later that I or anyone else would have checked in there.”

After being airlifted to hospital, the 83-year-old was said by police to be in a stable condition, and is understood to be on the mend.

Bodmin Police said in a Facebook post: “Whilst the lady concerned is still currently receiving care, she is in good spirits and is being well looked after.”

Piran has since been spotted in the fields by Ms Longmuir, and is being fed by a friend of the woman while she recovers.

Read Entire Article