Six lanes of full-speed, weaving, Auckland traffic were no match for a kitten called Lucky and his motorcycling saviours.
The scrawny feline was rescued in an unusual police action yesterday morning as he scurried among vehicles on the main road to Auckland airport.
Some motorists dialled 111, while others called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
SPCA staff arrived on a rescue mission but thought it too dangerous to cross Hugh Watt Drive to retrieve the cat cowering under a median barrier in the middle of six lanes of traffic in a 100kmh zone.
Two policemen on motorbikes blocked off the road for a few minutes to get to the kitten, which had been stranded for more than an hour.
Staff at the emergency call centre had already named him Lucky.
One of the policemen tucked the kitten into his jacket and gave him a lift into the city.
Wendy, a police communications centre dispatcher, was the first to offer Lucky a home.
"He's going to spend the night with me and we'll decide what we're going to do with him tomorrow because there's a few girls at work that have offered to take him as well."
Wendy said that because she already had four cats she would be happy to let one of her co-workers give him a home.
It was also possible that the owner might turn up. "He's very friendly, he's someone's pet."
Wendy took Lucky to the vet, where he was given a check-up, wormed and vaccinated.
He was filthy and had a few minor injuries from his ordeal, including a couple of cuts on the face where stones had got him, she said.
He also had some toenails missing from clinging on to the motorway, and grazes on his feet. He was a little bit skinny, but otherwise in fine health, Wendy said.
"As we were at the vet's, he was digging around in the dog biscuits and running round the back of the computer and being a little bit nosy," she said.
"He lost one of his nine lives today and is continuing on his nosy parker ways."
The vet estimated he was 11 weeks old.
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