The terrified feline was discovered during a break in court proceedings when two lawyers, the court secretary and the secretary’s daughter heard meowing coming from the walls.

Convinced there was a kitten trapped between the stone facade and concrete wall behind, they called the fire service to see if they could rescue it.

But the firemen claimed the kitten was impossible to reach without knocking out a stone in the wall – for which they would need the agreement of the building’s architect.

Several phone calls later, the architect faxed over permission to remove the stone.

The kitten was pulled from the gap safe and sound, if not a little hungry.  One of the lawyers, Perrine Corru, adopted the kitten.