Kitten rescued from Devon landfill digger's scoop

A kitten has been rescued from a landfill site after its faint cries were heard in a digger's scoop.

The black cat was found on Friday by staff at the Deep Moor site, near Great Torrington in north Devon, the North Devon Animal Ambulance charity said.

Staff brought the three to four-month-old animal, now named Scoop, to the charity's clinic in Barnstaple for treatment of "multiple injuries".

It is expected to undergo "many weeks of treatment", the charity said.

The cat was found after a worker at the landfill site "thought he heard a noise amongst the rubbish", the charity said.

An initial search revealed nothing, but movement was then seen in rubbish in the scoop as it was being lifted.

The "poor bedraggled kitten" was found "barely moving and weakly meowing" before being "instantly gathered up in a jumper and without hesitation" rushed to the charity's welfare clinic.

It has a badly infected eye, scarring on its face, injuries to both front legs and was also suffering from dehydration and starvation, the charity said.

The kitten would "require many weeks of treatment and TLC to recover from his horrendous ordeal", it added.

Charity founding trustee Diana Lewis said the "very tiny" cat "nearly used up all nine lives in nine seconds".

She added: "When he's fully recovered, he'll be found a loving home."

Staff at Deep Moor carried out another search of the area to see if any more kittens were among the rubbish but none were found, the charity said.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].