Southold Animal Shelter manager Gabby Stroup says residents and town officials had worked to free the cat to no avail for almost a week
A cat that scaled a tree on Long Island and became trapped for five days has been rescued following a townwide effort to save it.
Newsday reports the Shamrock Tree Co. and the North Fork Animal Welfare League were finally able to coax a stressed cat down from a tree in Greenport in Suffolk County on Tuesday.
Southold Animal Shelter manager Gabby Stroup says residents and town officials had worked to free the cat to no avail.
‘It looked healthy and like he knew where he was going. He just took off,’ said Stroup.
Over the course of nearly a week, Greenport residents came together to help the unnamed cat from its predicament, bringing in equipment, a net, blankets and a significant amount of ‘real smelly, stinky’ cat food.
Debbie Hooper, who lives across the street where the scene unfolded, said she heard the cat’s cries for help last Thursday.
‘I was thinking its nine lives might be over soon,’ she said. ‘No animal should suffer like that. It’s just so cold.’
Greenport residents came together to help the unnamed cat from its predicament, bringing in equipment, a net, blankets and food
Determined to assist the helpless feline, Hooper and a few of her neighbors decided to get some professional help and involve the city.
That’s when they contacted the Town of Southold’s highway department, who brought in a bucket truck to help reach helpless cat.
But the commotion proved to be to overwhelming for the already frightened animal, who scurried higher up the estimated 75-foot-tree, said Vincent Orlando, the town’s superintendent of highways.
Determined to assist the helpless feline, neighbors decided to get some professional help and involve the city
As the town regrouped to try again after the weekend, they placed food in strategic locations in an effort to coax the cat from its aerial perch.
‘We just could not reach it,’ Orlando said.
Racing against descending temperatures, which reached the low 30s on Tuesday, the community banded together to try one more options.
Shamrock owner Jonath Shipman says he has rescued cats and a red-tailed hawk with his 60-foot bucket truck. Shipman says the rescue only took a couple minutes to get the cat to come out of its hiding place.
‘It was pretty easy access with my bucket truck; it only took minutes,’ Shipman said. ‘I tried to get above the cat and I had a large fishing net — I was going to try to scare it down the tree, or if that didn’t work, I was going to get it in the net.’
According to Newsday, Shipman was able to get the cat to come down, which subsequently bolted before volunteers below could grab it, Stroup said.
‘I felt bad listening to this poor little animal crying for days,’ Hooper said. ‘I’m glad someone came, I’m glad somebody finally got it down.’
The helpless feline was finally rescued but ran off before anyone could inspect its health