Cat Rescue Guy

Sometimes I rescue a cat, and sometimes I just scare them down.  Beebe was in the latter group.  From what I learned about this sweet 7-year old girl beforehand, I thought there was a chance that she would be happy to see me in the tree.  After all, she has been known to give strangers a friendly greeting in the past, so hopefully she would do so again.  But before I even started climbing, I could tell from her cries that she was feeling a little scared.  As I got higher in the tree, her fear only increased. Beebe (pronounced with two syllables) was about 30 feet high in a very large tree, and I was concerned about her climbing higher or very far out and out of reach on the very long branches.  I set my climbing line almost 20 feet higher than she so that I would be better positioned if she decided to go farther away from me.  I also set the climbing line on the opposite side of the tree from her so that I could climb up above her without being seen and be in a position to prevent

It was a dark and stormy morning.  Actually, it wasn't stormy during the rescue, but it sure was immediately after.  Poor Harvey had already endured a thunderstorm the afternoon before, but on this day, the afternoon thunderstorm came in the morning instead.  While there were dark clouds all around when I arrived, there was no rain, and I could not hear any thunder in the far distance, so I prepared to climb.  Just as I start climbing, I began to hear thunder far, far away. Lightning is a serious threat for any tree climber, but Louisiana ranks second in the nation for deaths by lightning.  Florida is first.  My policy is to abort any rescue whenever I can hear thunder, because the risk of the tree being struck by lightning is very real, and the consequences are often deadly.   But since I learned that Harvey is a friendly boy, even to strangers, I decided to proceed with the rescue with the expectation that it would be quick, and the risk was negligible at this far distance fr

It was a very hot day in July when I got the call from Sheree to rescue her beloved cat, Morris.  We don't know how long Morris had been stuck in the tree, because Sheree had been out of town for a while.  We do know that he had been in the tree for at least a day and a half, because that is when Sheree returned home and found him missing.  Morris is a 12 year old orange tabby, and he lives way out in the country with woods all around.  Fortunately, Sheree found him in the woods not far from home, but he was stuck about 30 feet high in a small tree. When I arrived, Sheree led me to the site by ducking and pushing our way through the undergrowth to the tree that Morris had selected.  Privet grew all around the tree and blocked my view upward, so I spent some time cutting it back so that I would have enough room to work.  By the time I was ready to begin setting up for the rescue, I was already soaking wet with sweat.  I was hoping that Morris would be cooperative, because I did

What a pitiful sight!  This is what I saw when I arrived to rescue Tigger.  This poor one-year old orange tabby had been stuck forty feet high in a tree for five very hot days in July.  A rain storm would have been a welcome relief, but it never came for Tigger.  He was totally exhausted.    Draped as he was over that large fork in the tree, Tigger was not likely to ever fall out of the tree. When his human daddy, Mitch, would call for him, normally he would respond with excitement, but now he could not even open his eyes, much less move.  Tigger loves his daddy and sleeps with him every night.  When Tigger was only a few weeks old, Mitch found him injured on the side of the road and near death.  Mitch ignored the vet's euthanasia recommendation and instead took him home, fed him with a syringe, and nursed him back to health.  Tigger owes his life to Mitch, and now, once again, they are in a similar position.  Once again, Mitch did not let him down. When I asked Mitch how

It was early afternoon on the Fourth of July when I got a call from the 911 Emergency office in Port Allen.  The operator told me that someone had called asking for help with a cat stuck in a tree.  She gave me the caller's phone number, and I said I would call him right away.  I spoke with Victor who told me that his four-month old kitten named Smoke had been stuck in a tree for four days.  In the summer heat here, that is a very long time. I packed up my gear, and as I began to leave, the clouds began building up and threatening another one of the typical afternoon thunderstorms that so often occur here in the summers.  I checked the weather radar picture and saw a storm passing over us, but after that was over, it should be clear for a good while.  I drove on over in a heavy downpour expecting it to be over by the time I arrived, and, sure enough, it was.  While the rain is certainly an unpleasant experience for the cat, it is at least a welcome opportunity for him to lick s