In 13 tweets Russell Crowe tells the story of his kitten rescue 17 years ago

I really like this excellent cat story. Russell Crowe took the time to churn out 13 tweets (to their maximum length under the rules of Twitter) to describe his rescue of a tortoiseshell-and-white kitten (calico) in the bush far from a human settlement while he was out cycling with his training team while preparing for the film Cinderella Man in 2003.

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Cinders – a cat rescued by Russell Crowe as a kitten in the forest. Picture: Russel Crowe or his mum.

The story starts in early 2003. His mother wanted a cat but he disagreed with her. Later in 2003 he began training for the film Cinderella Man. The film is about an ex-boxer hence the training. He was doing it at home which is “in the bush”. I take this to mean that it is deep in the countryside in Australia (between Brisbane and Sydney). He had all the personnel and training equipment that he required in a marquee. He was being trained by the legendary Angelo Dundee who was Muhammad Ali’s trainer.

One of his tweets describing finding the kitten

At the end of December he took “a bunch of blokes who had been beating me up” on a mountain bike ride deep into the bush. It was a steep climb. It was 20 km of loose dirt and shale with a constant climb. He stopped at one advantage point to take a rest and a sip of water. He was enjoying the view and the sound of the birds and he heard the faint meow of a kitten. He took a few steps into the rainforest amongst the thick ferns and vines and saw the kitten.

He put the kitten into his rucksack and carried on up the hill; the harshest part of the journey. When he got to the top around 20 minutes later his companions arrived behind him and they celebrated with cold water and a view of the Orara Valley. He shared the news about his kitten rescue. They went crazy over the new kitten. They flew back down the hill in a tight group, arrived at his farm where he presented his mother with this “tiny baby kitten”.

In his words, “She was floored. So happy.” The point of his storytelling is that the kitten that he rescued, named Cinders, died yesterday, he said, in his final tweet. She had grown to be trusting of humans and loved his mother and his mother loved Cinders. She was aggressive towards dogs but she never scratched Russell Crowe. “I took that as gratitude”.