We wish we were "kitten," but it actually happened and video of a falling feline at Saturday's Miami Hurricanes football game is littering social media.
What could have been a "catastrophe" was averted thanks to the heads-up work by some fans with cat-like reflexes.
The animal somehow got into Hard Rock Stadium, then got caught by one of its paws off the facade of the upper deck in the first quarter.
Craig Cromer, who works as a facilities manager at the school, was at the game against Appalachian State with his wife and several friends when they used an American flag they bring to games and stretched it out to break the cat's fall from the upper deck.
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“I saw a cat’s butt, which at the time I didn’t know it was a cat. We just knew it was an animal, and I saw people trying to reach over and save it and the students were yelling 'just grab it, just grab it'," Cromer said Monday. "It was beyond their reach, so as they were reaching they were actually scaring the cat downward and at that point I was like, we’re gonna have to catch the thing."
The petrified cat fell, bounced a bit off the flag and eventually was secured by some in the nearby student section before being taken away by stadium security workers.
"At one point it was hanging by two paws and then it started urinating, which was not a good thing," Cromer said. “When it fell, I felt it hit the flag...and the students that were directly below us had a UM flag, I believe it landed in that UM flag and they snatched it up and held it like Simba.”
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Cromer left shortly after the rescue and missed the end of the game, which Miami won 25-23. He still doesn't know what happened to the cat, which showed no signs of injury Saturday.
“I wish I knew, that’s the million dollar question," he said with a laugh.
Jason Jenkins, the Senior Vice President of Communication with the Miami Dolphins who also play at Hard Rock Stadium, told NBC 6 the team was not aware of the cat's whereabouts.
Miami coach Manny Diaz said he learned of the cat incident postgame.
“I don’t know anything about that or what was going on,” Diaz said. “But I’ll tell you, if the cat will help us in our red-zone offense I’m going to see if we can give it a scholarship.”
