The two-year veteran occasionally sees four-legged critters scamperingunderground, but on a recent foray, his keen eye spotted something unusual:a blue collar on a furtive black cat, suggesting a link to a news story heremembered from three weeks earlier; after a visit to a veterinarian, astraphanger's kitten leaped from a pet carrier onto a midtown platform,capping the flight with a jump-down to the tracks and a beeline tooblivion, leaving her owner distraught.

Twenty-six days later, after Cuddy's sighting re-alerted transit workers, aseven-month-old kitten named Georgia was found in the tunnels under midtownManhattan and reunited with owner Ashley Phillips. Cuddy shared in athree-way $1,500-donated reward as a result, but elected to turn over hisshare to the ASPCA. "I was just happy she was recovered," Cuddy said.

"It's an especially heartwarming story," said Marilyn Caselli, Con Edison'ssenior vice president for Customer Operations, "one that underscores thevalue of careful observance combined with elements of benevolent chance.Nothing in a corporate mission statement covers what Chris set in motion,yet he's made literally thousands of people feel good as a result of whathe did."

When the kitten, minus one life of nine, was ultimately recovered bytransit workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte, she was suffering from afractured back leg and dehydration, ailments treated by doctors at FifthAvenue Veterinary Specialists.

"I didn't want to raise false hopes when I first spotted her," said the26-year-old Cuddy, who splits his time between Bensonhurst in Brooklyn andAlbrightsville in Pennsylvania, where the rambling countryside is slightlymore hospitable for him and his wife and their golden retriever. "I enjoythe unique nature of my job, knowing that I get to traverse a part of thecity that few others see. It wasn't quite as dramatic as sighting analligator in the sewer system, but I was still quite excited with theprospect of the lost kitten's recovery.

"I got the call on a Saturday night," he said of the good news. "I wasspeechless, but ecstatic."