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David Lauderdale

'Happy ending': Hilton Head cat survives jar stuck on its head for two weeks

By David Lauderdale
Volunteers say this feral cat survived about two weeks with a plastic jar stuck over its head. This photo was taken when it was first captured to be spayed, inoculated and released in woods on the south end of Hilton Head Island.
Volunteers say this feral cat survived about two weeks with a plastic jar stuck over its head. This photo was taken when it was first captured to be spayed, inoculated and released in woods on the south end of Hilton Head Island. Submitted

A Hilton Head Island feral cat that had a plastic jar stuck over its head for about two weeks has apparently survived, a rescue volunteer said Monday.

"She's eating and drinking," said Marci Tressel. "She's thin, but doesn't look too bad."

The small gray cat was spotted in woods off Palmetto Bay Road on April 7 with what appeared to be a peanut butter jar stuck over her head.

On April 17, a volunteer saw the cat, touched it and was trying to remove the jar when it ran away.

On Sunday morning, April 22, Tressel identified a cat eating at a feeding station set up in the woods as the one they'd been searching for. The plastic jar was gone.

"We feel like the jar may have been loosened or dislodged when our volunteer touched it, and the cat was able to get out of it," Tressel said.

About 15 regular volunteers spent as much as seven hours a day scouring thick woods behind The Village Exchange and The Smokehouse restaurant.

A camera was set up at the feeding station two weeks ago.

Tressel got a call over the weekend saying, "Marci, I think our cat is here."

"Sure enough, it's her," Tressel said Monday after getting close-up views of the cat on camera.

She said Bluffton veterinarian Ben Parker advised letting the cat continue to eat and drink water before traumatizing it again by capturing it and taking it in for a medical exam.

"I'm so happy it's a happy ending," Tressel said. "It's remarkable that a little cat would survive that long. She was so vulnerable. She couldn't see, she couldn't eat, she couldn't defend herself.

"Everyone said we're not going to give up until we find her, and everybody kept lifting each other up when it got discouraging."

About a dozen cats in the colony have been trapped, spayed, inoculated and returned to the wild where Tressel or other animal-lovers feed them in a small clearing. Tressel has been capturing feral cats on Hilton Head for more than 20 years. She works through the Hilton Head Humane Association to control the feral cat population in this way.

She said this incident brought out the best in people.

"We have a wonderful community of compassionate people who value all lives and will protect them," she said.


Initially, the response included firefighters, deputies, the humane association, Beaufort County Animal Control and Critter Management.
After that, volunteers came at various times of day to search. Tressel said it included a bartender, judge, lawyer, and a family vacationing from Canada that spent its last day on Hilton Head trying to find the gray cat.


She also said too much trash is thrown in the woods, and she plans to clean up the large area they have just been trudging through. She hopes others will clean up other wooded areas on the island.


But on Monday, she was simply relieved.


"There were a lot of prayers and hope, and we didn't give up," Tressel said. "A lot of it was just luck."


David Lauderdale: 843-706-8115, @ThatsLauderdale

This story was originally published April 23, 2018 at 2:10 PM with the headline "'Happy ending': Hilton Head cat survives jar stuck on its head for two weeks."

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