Simba's Eighth Rescue

He was due. Simba, my record-holder for most rescues, has not been stuck in a tree for more than eight months, so I figured it was about time to hear from him again. Today, I did. Simba did it again and got stuck in a tree in his front yard, and this is the eighth time I have rescued him. If you think that I find his habitual behavior annoying, you would be terribly mistaken. Simba is among my most favorite cats to rescue, and when he does not get stuck in a tree for a while, I miss him terribly. I am actually happy to learn that he is stuck again and that I have another opportunity to go visit with him. He is always cooperative, and the rescue is usually quite easy. Not only is he relaxed and friendly, he is also beautiful.

Finding him in the tree was easy this time. He was only 20 feet high in the tree and crying out to us below. I picked out a large limb about 10 feet above him and installed my rope there. He calmly watched me as I climbed up to him and greeted me with his butt end as he stepped out on another limb to turn around. Instead of turning around, he turned back to me and looked at my lap. He has come down in my lap a few times before, and there was no reason not to do that again this time. After all, he was relaxed, we were not high, the ride down had only one small limb to pass, and he was in his own front yard and knew where he was.

I encouraged him to step down onto my lap, and he slowly placed both front paws on me. His back legs, however, remained on the tree for a while, as he pondered exactly where to put them. It seems like he gets bigger each time I rescue him, and he seemed to be a little too big to fit on my lap comfortably this time. But we made it work as I pulled him in a little closer to me, and we began our descent. We had to stop for a few seconds while I pushed us around a small limb, but it was a clear and easy ride the rest of the way down. Shortly before I reached the ground, as expected, he jumped down to the ground just as he had done in the past. He walked a large semi-circle around me, glanced at me with a nod of approval, and then Carol picked him up and carried him inside the house.

It was just another routine rescue for the coolest cat in town. He had been in the tree only since the previous evening, so his inconvenience lasted only half a day. Simba acted as if this had all worked out just the way he planned, and now he had important business that needed his attention such as eating and sleeping. So he went about his business, and I went about mine, happy to have had yet another encounter with the coolest cat in town.

I have no video or pictures of this rescue because of a camera malfunction. Honest. It was actually not my fault this time, and I am very disappointed. The picture above I had to steal from an earlier rescue. But I do have this picture of Simba after the rescue appearing to be a bit displeased with the interruption of his important business.