Unknown Tortie and Simba

Both of these rescues came in the same afternoon. First, I got a call from Charles in Baton Rouge about a cat in a large, leaning tree in his front yard. He recognized the cat as one that has been roaming the neighborhood and likely belonged to a neighbor, and it had been stuck about 20 feet high for seven days. The long-hair tortie would meow to people below, so I thought she would be tame and receptive to my approach. When I climbed up to her, however, she was clearly distressed and went around the large trunk to a limb on the other side where I could not see her. When I peered around the trunk to where we could see each other, she decided that was too much and climbed down the tree. She disappeared in the bushes below, and no one saw which direction she ran. I hope she went home and is safe.

The next rescue was for Simba in St. Amant. This two-year-old white and orange boy had been stuck 30 feet high in a neighbor's tree for two nights. Simba is a sweet, sociable boy, but I had trouble reading his behavior and kept getting mixed messages from him. When I climbed up to him, he seemed quite uninterested in me, and I had trouble getting his attention. Once I reached him, we made friends quickly, but he seemed to be afraid at times and looking for an escape path. At one point, he turned around as if getting ready to climb up the branch, but, fortunately, he never did so. I had wanted to bring him down in the carrier, but with the uncertainty of the situation, I felt that I needed to take no chances with him and quickly put him in the bag instead. I brought him down in the bag and handed him to Adrienne, and she took him home where he was happy to get some food and a comfortable bed.