Randall

No, I didn't rescue myself.  At least, not this time.  What happened was that I went out to rescue a cat that did not yet have a name, and the owner, Hazel, was so grateful, that she named the cat after me.

This sweet, orange tabby boy introduced himself to Hazel at Wal-Mart.  He is a very friendly boy, and he simply walked up to Hazel pleading for attention and help.  He sure picked out the right person, because Hazel has a heart of gold and has rescued several cats.  Hazel already had her hands full with restoring her flooded house, but she could not leave him there all alone.  She took him home with her with the plan to get him neutered and ready for adoption.  She would give him a name after she took him to the vet, but before she could do so, the little boy climbed up the tree in her side yard and was stuck there.

Hazel tried her best to get him down, but he couldn't come down, and she couldn't go up high enough.  The next day, Hazel found me through Facebook and sent me a message, but by the time we finally connected by phone, the daylight was gone, and I would have to wait till morning to rescue him.  When I arrived that morning after his second night in the tree, I found him about 20 feet high in a skinny tree crying his lungs out.  He was pleading desperately for somebody to help and stirring my paternal instincts so much that I was ready to free climb that tree without ropes.  Fortunately, my head prevailed, and I began the process of setting up.

The tree had very few limbs worthy of holding my weight, and the cat was standing in the best one.  When I walked back to the truck to get some gear, I came back to find that he had climbed down 2 or 3 feet to a larger, but dead, branch stub.  That gave me the opening I needed to shoot my line over the branch he was originally in.  When I did that, I watched him to gauge his reaction, and he seemed perfectly fine with it.  In fact, when I pulled up the weighted bag near him, he swatted at it to play with it.  That's a great sign, and I knew I was in for a treat of an easy rescue.

I worked to get my line into position, and at one point I had my head down.  When I looked up, I was surprised to see the cat flying down toward the ground with his legs outstretched.  He landed a few feet from me and immediately ran across the front of the house.  I followed carefully from a distance to see where he went and to make sure he was not injured.  He was walking just fine and ran to the opposite side of the house.  He stopped to pee a long time, and I waited.  He walked calmly and comfortably to the back yard, and again I followed along.  He looked back at me and then began walking toward me.  I went to my truck to get some food for him, and when I came back, he came to me.  He is indeed a friendly boy.

I had to think back to what happened.  Usually cats jump if they get scared by the commotion I make when setting my line in the tree, but this boy did not seem scared at all.  At first, I thought that the dead stub he was on broke off and forced him down.  But when I compared the "before" and "after" pictures of the tree, I can see that nothing broke off.  Considering his posture and his landing place a good distance away from tree, then I have to assume he intentionally jumped.  He was so anxious to get down, and I was not getting there fast enough, so I think he simply decided to take matters into his own paws.  He is a bold boy, and I admire him for that.

He ate his food very quickly and is doing just fine now.  Hazel is very relieved to have him down, and now she can focus her energy on getting her house back in shape.  She was so grateful that I came out there to rescue her cat, that she decided to name him after me.  I am honored by that, but I didn't do much this time.  This little boy rescued himself.  I just showed up and unintentionally motivated him to jump down.  To be honest, I am a bit disappointed that I could not climb the tree to get him.  Friendly, cooperative cats like that a joy to rescue, and I needed one like that.  But, I am glad he is down and safe, however it happens.

The only video I have is this short view of the cat as he was crying for help when I arrived.  I didn't have the camera with me while I was setting up, so I missed his jump down to the ground.