Ever since she was a tiny kitten, Storm has always loved to speak her mind. She loves telling her family all about the things she finds around the house and what she’s up to at any given moment, and they’re always waiting to see what she’s going to tell them next.
“Storm is very curious,” Caitlyn Hartley, Storm’s mom, told The Dodo. “She makes all sorts of noises. She’s very playful and is also very vocal. She talks to us a lot.”
One of the things that causes Storm to speak her mind the most is when she discovers an animal friend who needs help. Outside her family’s basement window, there’s a little pocket where sometimes wildlife will get stuck. Storm really loves hanging out in the basement, where she can play in her cat condo and slide around on the floor, so if an animal needs help, she’s often the first to notice and will promptly alert her family of the situation.
“Storm has alerted me to a baby bunny, frogs, a mole … and any time we have bugs in the house, like stink bugs, spiders, beetles, you name it,” Hartley said.
Storm was attempting to capture her mother’s attention and get her to accompany her down to the basement one day. Her mother assumed she simply wanted to play, but when she arrived in the basement, she discovered that someone else had become stuck, and the perpetrator caused her quite a shock.
“I was in a state of shock,” Hartley added. “I wasn’t expecting a snake to get lodged there, especially one of that size.”
Storm, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the snake and continued putting her nose against the window in an attempt to make friends with it. “Don’t worry, my folks will help you!” she seemed to be saying. They always manage to achieve it!”
Storm’s parents swiftly devised a rescue plan as Storm kept an eye on the snake, which looked to be unable to move at all.
“My husband opened that window from the inside to let the snake out… “He donned gloves and caught the snake fast and carefully and deposited him into the box I was carrying when he opened the window and screen,” Hartley recalled. “I had to immediately secure the edges of the box so the snake wouldn’t escape.” I took the snake outdoors and released it into a grove of trees near our home.”
Luckily, the snake wasn’t injured and seemed OK. Once he realized he was free, he slithered off into the trees as if nothing had ever happened. He went back to living his life — and Storm went back to patrolling the basement for animal friends who may need her help.
