bstewert
TreeHouser
Yesterday I got a cat rescue call around 5:30 pm, after driving in thick traffic for an hour to drop someone off at the airport. Nothing unusual, except it was TWO cats in the same tree. Well OK, that's pretty unusual. They were brothers, and had been up about 40' for three days.
It was 102° outside, and I was on the same side of town as the rescue, but my gear was at home on the other side of town. Driving in rush hour traffic back to get my gear, just to drive all the way back, and then still have to drive home didn't sound like fun. This would be a good one to pass up on, I thought.
The cats will be allright, I told the lady. Let's wait until the morning. Or, you could call someone else on the cat rescue site. No, she didn't want to wait, and she had already called several other people on the list, plus some tree companies. OK, it will have to be a night rescue, and it will cost extra. She gave me the address.
I arrived a little before 9:00 pm. The was a cluster of these 60-70' juniper-looking trees about 5-10' apart, with tons of dead branches intertwined amongst each other. Thankfully, they had a 24' ladder set up already, so I didn't have to deal with throwline. They had also moved a 9' trampoline underneath. One cat is in this tree, the lady said, and the other is over here in this tree. And one cat is black.
They were at about 40' cuz I could see their eyes light up with my helmet headlight. The black cat went to the top, and I was able to get a couple of pics before putting him in the bag. When I was able to get over to the other tree thru the mess of dead branches, that cat (still about 40') went out on a limb and blended in with the dead foliage. Never got a pic. I had another rope sent up, set up a double crotch system, and started heading out to the tip. All of a sudden there was a big SPLAT sound. The cat jumped, hit the center of the trampoline and took off.
It was 102° outside, and I was on the same side of town as the rescue, but my gear was at home on the other side of town. Driving in rush hour traffic back to get my gear, just to drive all the way back, and then still have to drive home didn't sound like fun. This would be a good one to pass up on, I thought.
The cats will be allright, I told the lady. Let's wait until the morning. Or, you could call someone else on the cat rescue site. No, she didn't want to wait, and she had already called several other people on the list, plus some tree companies. OK, it will have to be a night rescue, and it will cost extra. She gave me the address.
I arrived a little before 9:00 pm. The was a cluster of these 60-70' juniper-looking trees about 5-10' apart, with tons of dead branches intertwined amongst each other. Thankfully, they had a 24' ladder set up already, so I didn't have to deal with throwline. They had also moved a 9' trampoline underneath. One cat is in this tree, the lady said, and the other is over here in this tree. And one cat is black.
They were at about 40' cuz I could see their eyes light up with my helmet headlight. The black cat went to the top, and I was able to get a couple of pics before putting him in the bag. When I was able to get over to the other tree thru the mess of dead branches, that cat (still about 40') went out on a limb and blended in with the dead foliage. Never got a pic. I had another rope sent up, set up a double crotch system, and started heading out to the tip. All of a sudden there was a big SPLAT sound. The cat jumped, hit the center of the trampoline and took off.
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