Contractor discovers kitten in wall while tearing it down, proceeds to find 15 more

A contractor in Philadelphia was hard at work taking down a wall of an abandoned home on Sunday, June 13, when he heard a strange muffled sound coming from inside.

Meowing.

As he started to tear down the wall carefully, a kitten fell out, according to ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI. He figured there could be more so he began to take a closer look.

He was right, there were. In fact, over an eight-hour period he ended up removing a total of 16 cats – nine adults and seven kittens – from the wall of the home, according to the Animal care and Control Team (ACCT) in Philadelphia.

It is unclear how long the felines had been there or how they got into the wall in the first place but it is clear that they had been there for some time.

ACCT Philadelphia said the contractor was able to get them all safely out but “quite a few of them aren’t in great shape,” and, sadly, one of the kittens was not able to be saved.

“The cats are scared, some will require more socialization, but right now they are resting in their cages,” ACCT Philadelphia said in a post on their Facebook page.

The 15 surviving cats that ACCT took in on Sunday are only some of the more than 40 cats they took in on Sunday alone.

"They owe their lives to the contractor who saved them and brought them to us," ACCT Philly said.

Anyone interested in adopting one of the rescued cats can send ACCT Philadelphia a message on Facebook or email them directly at foster@acctphilly.org.