Tiffany and Todd's eighteen-month-old cat, Bruno, is not a bold and daring cat, so they were shocked to see this indoor-only boy run outside and climb a tree next to their house in Paulina, Louisiana. They loved this sweet, gentle boy who sleeps with them every night, and they did everything they knew to get him out of that tree, but all their efforts failed, and the local fire department failed as well.
The situation surrounding Bruno's rescue held a bit more drama than usual, but most of the drama is not visible in the rescue video. The video shows only the final action that brought this drama to an end. What you don't see are the five days of intense anguish, tears, and stress that Tiffany and Todd experienced while their beloved baby paced and cried at the top of the tree. They thought that no one could possibly rescue him, and they would have to watch him slowly die there. You also don't see the misery that Bruno experienced as he felt helplessly and precariously trapped and exposed in the tree during cold nights and heavy thunderstorms. You may not notice the other large nearby tree that had been previously uprooted and toppled into Bruno's tree where it was snagged but could come crashing down to the ground at any moment without warning. The video won't show how we had to wait for a very long time for the storms to pass before we could even begin the rescue, nor does it show the troublesome hour I spent getting my rope installed in this tangled mess of trees. It also may not be clear that Bruno is perched near the end of the topmost limb of the tree, and the top of the tree had broken off leaving me with little support and no way to reach him safely. You won't see the lengthy time I spent up there at the top of the tree with him working to calm and reassure him so that he would come to me or at least be receptive to the food I would eventually use to lure him to me.
What the video will show you is a tired and miserable cat whose matted hair reveals the result of the heavy rain and his efforts to lick it off his coat. It will show him only after he had calmed down enough to have some interest in the food I used to lure him to me. I placed the food at the end of an extendable pole so I could place it in front of him where he could smell it. Once he had a bite, I moved the food a few steps closer to me so that he would follow it. We repeated this pattern a few times until he was close enough to me to know that I was not a threat to him. After a sniff of my hand and another bite of the food, he watched me put the food in the back of the carrier. He took a minute to examine the carrier to make sure it was safe, and then he stepped inside. I pushed his tail all the way inside, closed the door, and yelled to Todd below that Bruno was in the carrier. If you listen carefully, you can hear Todd's expression of relief and amazement that what he thought was impossible had actually happened, but you won't see or hear the relief, joy, and peace the whole family enjoyed afterward with Bruno safely back home. All the video shows is the short, pivotal climax of this one drama, and you are left to imagine the longer, more meaningful remainder of the story.
