Cat Rescue Guy

I love those rescues where the cat is sweet and cooperative, the tree is easy to climb, and the owner and cat have a heart-warming reunion, but this is not that kind of rescue. No, this was a scared, unknown kitten that would not let me get close, and it was in a miserable, vine-covered tree surrounded by water. Navin could hear the kitten crying in his neighbor's backyard tree in Bunkie, but he could not see it. It took me a few minutes using my binoculars to locate the kitten sitting in what may have been an old bird nest now flattened and filled with leaves and twigs. We knew nothing about the kitten, but Navin planned to take responsibility for it and find its home. As for the tree, it was covered with vines, one of which is poison ivy, and surrounded by water from frequent rain storms. There was no way to avoid getting wet on this rescue. As I climbed up toward the kitten, I could hear that he was feeling distressed, but my efforts to reassure him failed completely. He began c

Usually, there are fewer rescues during the summer down here in the deep South when the temperatures are high and the cats are less active, but, at a current rate of only one rescue per month, this is the worst summer slump I have ever experienced. But then, within minutes, I got two calls for two different rescues, and both were in Lafayette. Fortunately, one of those resolved on its own, but that still left a need to rescue an unknown kitty that had been stuck in a tree for a week. It was Sam and Jaime of Wild Cat Foundation  who called me about the cat and agreed to care for it once I brought it down. The cat was in the tree on the right where circled in red and was crying to everyone below for help. The tree was not a fun one to climb, but I slowly worked my way up to the cat, and, before I could even get close to it, it climbed higher. When I climbed higher, it went out on the skinny limbs toward the Cypress tree next to it. As I struggled to climb up higher, I did not even notice