Hobo Joe

This is the first time I have been asked to rescue a cat on a utility pole. The cat, his family and I are all very lucky that this pole did not have any dangerous electrical wires on it. The only wire attached to the pole was for cable TV, and the cat, named Hobo Joe, was perched on the tip top of the pole about 20 feet high. There were electrical distribution wires on another pole nearby, but they were higher, and we were well outside the danger zone for those.

Hobo Joe is a one-year-old, ear-tipped, community cat who is very friendly, and he introduced himself to Melissa and her children several months ago at their home in Central and decided to adopt them. He unwisely chose to wander into a neighbor's back yard where he met some unfriendly dogs who chased him up the pole. His family found him quickly, and he had been there only five hours by the time I rescued him.

It is also fortunate that Hobo Joe got stuck in a yard that belongs to Amy who already knew about me and follows my rescues on Facebook. Amy gave Melissa my phone number and was very gracious and accommodating as we all took over her back yard. Thank you, Amy.

Hobo Joe was so friendly and anxious to be rescued that he tried to come down to me before I was within reach. Fortunately, he stayed on top of the pole until I reached him. I would have loved to have brought him down in my lap, but I don't have a good cat-sitting lap when climbing a pole like this. I intended to get him in the carrier instead, but when I reached the top of the pole, I discovered I had forgotten to attach the carrier to my harness, and it was still down on the ground too far away to retrieved. The only option I had left at that point was to put him in the bag. After we made friends and I had petted him a good bit, I lifted him off the top of the pole and pulled the bag over him. His family took him home and released him there. A few hours later, Melissa sent the picture of him sleeping to me as well as the picture of me climbing up to him. Thanks for the pictures, Melissa.