A CAT that came close to being crushed to death is celebrating its 20th birthday with the Steep animal lover who raised her from a new-born kitten.
Charlie the cat was rescued after the driver of a skip lorry spotted a plastic bag in a skip that was moving – just as it was being emptied into a mechanical crusher.
Now the black and white moggie that thinks its “queen of the house” is celebrating it’s 20th birthday with owner Margie Tegg of Hayes Cottages in Steep.
Margie, who went to The Petersfield School in Cranford Road, said: “It must have been horrible, for her, frightening, I can’t imagine what sort of person would tie a new born kitten in a plastic bag and throw her in a skip.
“A friend of my sisters had her, and I offered to care for her, she was tiny, just a scrap of fur, about nine days old we thought, and she’s now 20.
“I had to bottle feed her and she slept in a box by the bed, she thinks she’s human, queen of the house.
“She’s no breed, just a moggie, and in 20-years she’s had just had a handful of teeth out, that’s all that’s been wrong.
“Although recently the vet from St Peter’s vets has been giving her supplement shots because of her age.”