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Kitty rescued from 50ft perch
Friday 19th March 2010, 10:29AM GMT.
Libby Edwards, 8, and Lloyd Edwards, 16, with Kitty
A kitten stranded 50ft up a tall tree in a Shropshire town for three days was back at home today with all nine lives intact after a dramatic rescue.
Kitty the cat came back down to earth without a bump after a tree surgeon rescued her from her lofty perch in Jubilee Park, Whitchurch.
Tony Dodd, from Springhill Tree Management in Whitchurch, was drafted in by Kitty’s owners to pluck the marooned animal to safety yesterday afternoon.
He said: “I used a rope and harness to climb the tree and get the cat down. Her owners were very pleased to have her back safely.”
It is understood black cat Kitty dashed up the tree on Tuesday while being chased by dogs off their leashes.
Kitty’s owner Lloyd Edwards, 16, said today he was relieved to have the poor puss back in one piece.
The Sir John Talbot School pupil said: “I’ve only had Kitty since October and she’s still just a kitten. We were all worried as we honestly thought there was no way we could get her down because she was so high up. But we had to call out the tree surgeon ourselves and we are paying for it ourselves.
“I’m upset because we rang the RSPCA several times but they said they couldn’t do anything.”
Helen Coen, RSPCA spokeswoman, said: “Lots of people had been calling us about it but we explained to them that with cats we leave them for 48 hours as most make their own way down when they get hungry.
“We did send an officer out on Thursday afternoon just as the cat was brought down to safety. The cat was safe and well when it was brought down.”
She added the RSPCA policy was based on “years of experience” in dealing with similar situations.
She said in some cases cats were known to climb even higher or panic and fall when being rescued from trees.
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Good news – I’m really glad she’s down safe and well. Hopefully she’ll have learnt not to go quite so far up in future.
It’s very well the RSPCA saying leave the cat for 48 hours but when it’s your pet stuck somewhere and in distress, that’s not easy to do. I’ve had to climb a ladder to get mine out of a tree twice (both times chased up the tree by dogs who shouldn’t have been wandering round loose) as I couldn’t just leave him there to see whether he got down. And I don’t do heights, or climbing ladders, generally!
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Glad the cats down, amazed at the poor response from the RSPCA! and if dog owners stopped letting their dogs off the lead in the park (there are many signs saying they should be on leads) maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
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When Lloyd Edwards expresses himself to be upset with the RSPCA and then says that he’s had to pay the tree surgeon himself, the question has to be asked: who did he expect would have to pay for a rescue?
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I’m not surprised at the response by the RSPCA. We reported that a local family were keeping 4 week old kittens in a dark cupboard, separated from their mother and covered in faeces. They took the details, then rang back several months later to ask if the problem had been resolved(!) How we were supposed to know, I don’t have a clue – that’s why we called the bloody RSPCA!
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Fellow commentards, it may have escaped your notice that the RSPCA is a CHARITY, not government funded. They have limited resources and do a darn fine job sorting out the mess that cruel humans can inflict on animals, so I’d suggest, rather than just spouting off on here, you withold your vitrio, and perhaps make a donation if you want them to expand their remit to appease nervous cat-mollycoddlers.
A cat stuck up a tree is perfectly capable of getting down again once it regains its composure. Bit sad while it’s up there for the owners, but I’d much rather the RSPCA was spending its scarce resources on sorting out genuine issues of animal cruelty than wasting their time like this.
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to KB and Jim Stein,
Just to check. It’s OK for a cat to wonder around anywhere it likes and perhaps go to the toilet in people’s gardens or kill birds and leave them anywhere it likes…but a dog should be kept on its lead, even in a public park and/or open space? That seems a bit unfair.
Ps. I’m glad the cat was OK.
PPs. Well said BobbyC.
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For Vinnie…
I do understand that it is annoying when someone else’s cat wanders into your garden and uses it as a toilet, however I fail to see the connection here regarding cats not kept on a lead and allowed to wander free.
I have yet to hear of ANY little kiddies savaged and mauled by a domestic cat or kitten that resulted in the kid having to have plastic surgery, or worse a coffin! Yet stray dogs attack and maim people every year, hardly the same threat from a cat is there?
Unfair maybe, but loose dogs ARE dangerous, cats are not!
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