Brad Slater is a train conductor for the Canadian National Railway Company for his regular job. But after performing a very special rescue, he is now an angel and hero to one family in particular.
It started out as a regular day . . .
On an early cold morning Brad showed up for work with train engineer William Munsey in Wainwright, Alberta. The temperature was a frigid -39C and the two men were given the orders to take the Canadian National Railway train from Wainwright to Edmonton.
But, while waiting their turn for the train to depart, Brad thought to take a walk to check everything with his flashlight. He wanted to make sure everything was in order especially when the temperatures had fallen so much. That’s when he heard a sound he will never forget. He rushed to call on his fellow worker Munsey and they suspected the worse.
I thought the previous crew had run over somebody or he found an arm or leg or something. I’ve heard that voice before, and it’s not very good.
The cries Brad heard shook him to the core.
But to their surprise they found a curled up tabby cat crying under the second engine still alive! Brad can’t get the sound of that cry out of his mind saying:
All I heard was the angriest, saddest cat cry.
The two men quickly got the cat out from under the train and wrapped it in a t-shirt to try to get it warmed up. They offered it water and jerky and upon inspection of the little cat discovered it had a missing tooth, damage to its right ear and its little paws were beginning with frostbite. The weather was really starting to make its damage on the little feline.
Brad is a cat owner himself, so he let the tabby cat stay with him on the train. No doubt this helped his recovery move along. Brad reported:
Within five hours it was curled up on my lap. He was pushing his face against my arm. It’s almost as if he knew how close he had been to dying and knew exactly which human had saved it.
A fitting name for one very lucky cat.
Brad named the cat Q199 “Q” for short after the train. He took the cat home with his three other cats and got it to the vet the very next morning in order to get a full assessment of his needs. As he was recovering Brad realized this cat was not a stray and decided to reach out on social media to see if he could find its original owners.
A Twist Of Fate
He heard back from a couple in Saskatchewan who sent him pictures of a cat named “Tiger.” Strangely enough the couple were retired Canadian Railway workers and had found and rescued Tiger. As attached as Brad has come to the cat, he realized it was indeed the same cat and had the bittersweet ending to return the cat to his owners.
Brad felt that any other person would have done the same to rescue the poor little cat that had snow frozen on his tail and was covered in mud. He hoped that if one of his pets ever turned up missing the same actions would come back around to him where the person would nurse the animal back to health, take it to the vet, and look for the rightful owners.
Watch the full story below of a sweet cat that was rescued not once, but twice in the cold Canadian weather. Brad saved him in the nick of time!
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