When a worker at a Russian waste-sorting plant rescued a cat from imminent death, he had no notion it would finish up with an honorary title and napping in a government official’s chair.
Surveillance footage at the plant in Ulyanovsk, a city positioned about 700 km (435 miles) southeast of Moscow, on Monday showed worker Mikhail Tukash scooping up a white plastic bag from a conveyor belt and slashing it open to find out a black and white male cat inside.
“I felt something soft inside the bag,” Tukash, who was honoured by neighborhood authorities for the rescue, told the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets. “I cut the bag open slightly and I saw eyes looking back at me.”
The cat’s rescue, broadcast on tv and on social media, has created him a neighborhood celebrity. He has been adopted by the Ulyanovsk region’s atmosphere ministry and unofficially offered the position of deputy atmosphere minister.
“The cat was on the brink of death,” the ministry stated on Wednesday. “A little longer and it would have ended up in the trash separator.”
Pictures from the ministry showed the cat napping in a swivel chair in the workplace of atmosphere minister Gulnara Rakhmatulina and exploring its new residence.
The ministry has announced a nationwide contest to select a name for the cat, which it stated was located to be in very good well being immediately after a vet examined him.
“I want to appeal to pet owners: remember that you are responsible for those you have tamed,” Rakhmatulina stated. “If you can’t keep your pet at home, you can always leave it in good hands or at a shelter.”