Liverpool kitten rescued from recycling container crush

Biff is now putting on weight and doing well, the RSPCA said

A two-week-old kitten has escaped being crushed after venturing into a recycling container packed full of cardboard.

The curious puss, named Biff, was rescued after an "extraordinary" two-day operation, the RSPCA said.

Staff at Makro on Britonwood Trading Estate in Liverpool called the charity after hearing meowing coming from inside the container.

They then worked day and night to reach the trapped moggy.

It is thought the kitten had been stuck for several days after its mother went inside the container to give birth.

Both then became trapped as the space was packed full of more cardboard.

RSPCA staff arrived to see the face of the adult cat peeking out of a hole

The RSPCA arrived on 30 May to see the face of the adult cat peeking out of a tiny hole at one end of the container.

Biff the kitten's faint meowing could be heard behind her.

A compactor which dropped the cardboard in and flattened it with a metal plate was separated from the back of the container, and inspector Vicki Brooks joined Makro staff to spend five hours removing pieces of cardboard by hand.

Given the size of the task, work had to resume again the following morning before Biff was pulled to safety - but it appeared his mother had made her own way out.

Staff removed cardboard by hand in an attempt to reach the kitten

Ms Brooks said: "It was the most extraordinary rescue I have taken part in, in 21 years with the RSPCA. I don't know how the cats managed to survive.

"There was tons of cardboard packed tightly up to the ceiling of the container and no room for them to move.

"It was incredibly hot and there would have been limited air."

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The charity thanked Makro staff for their "incredible support" and said it would keep working to try to ensure the mother cat was safe.

Biff is now said to be putting on weight and doing well at the RSPCA's Wirral and Chester branch in Wallasey.