Treed Cat Doesn’t Stick Around To Thank Would-Be Rescuers

By Andrew Gorosko

You might call him Blackie, the Mystery Cat, the long-haired feline who eluded rescue.

It was not for a lack of effort, but the disheveled black cat, which reportedly had been stuck high up in a tree for almost a week, on February 25 managed to avoid rescue by well-intentioned firefighters. They had responded to the scene and extended an aerial ladder toward the animal in seeking to remove it from its dicey perch about 20 feet above ground at the Norling residence on Marlin Road, off Toddy Hill Road.

Richard Norling explained that the unfamiliar cat had been sitting up in the tree near his driveway for nearly a week and seemed for some reason unable to come down.

With a snowstorm expected to hit the area the following day, and likelihood that the cat would not find its way down to the ground before the storm, Mr Norling decided he needed some help in getting the animal down from the tree.

Police were alerted of the situation, as were firefighters, and the animal control officer. They converged at the slush-covered property during a cold rain in seeking to help the stranded cat.

Botsford Fire/Rescue Chief Wayne Ciaccia, wearing a long fluorescent-green raincoat, supervised Botsford firefighters who used Sandy Hook’s Quint ladder truck as a platform from which to try to snatch the isolated cat.

Chief Ciaccia noted that the volunteer fire company does not normally respond to retrieve stranded cats from trees. But the fire chief acknowledged the cat had been stranded up in the tree for about a week, so humane concerns dictated that firefighters make an effort the rescue the possibly injured feline from its perilous perch.

Normally, cats that become stuck in trees eventually find their way down to the ground, he noted, adding dryly, “You usually don’t see many cat skeletons in trees.”

For some reason, however, this cat had not been able to come down, possibly due to some injury, he said.

Mr Norling speculated that perhaps a dog or a coyote had chased the cat up into the tree, where it had become isolated for almost a week.

As he had approached the stranded animal, the cat would make “meow” noises, he said.

The Marlin Road resident said he had called a town animal control staffer to his property a few days earlier and had been told that the cat would eventually find its way down to the ground, but it had not done so, so he considered it necessary to call emergency services for aid in its rescue.

As the fire truck’s ladder was extended toward the cat, Botsford Firefighter Steve Osmolik climbed to the ladder’s end and attempted to retrieve the feline.

But the frightened cat suddenly jumped away from him in the opposite direction, rapidly dropping 20 feet to the ground, after which the cat quickly ran away from its would-be rescuers who were standing nearby.

Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason returned to the Norling residence with a baited cat trap in seeking to lure back the cat who had run away, but she had no luck. If the cat had returned, she would have brought it to a veterinarian to have it checked for injuries.

It is unclear if the cat is owned by someone in the area, she said. If so, it may have run back home after falling from the tree, she said this week.

Or the animal may be a feral cat which has lived in the wild, she said.