After spending almost three days of his full nine lives stuck up a tree, Steve is back on solid ground.
The Pemberton Heights cat disappeared on Tuesday night. Owner Michelle Johnson did what any pet owner would do and scoured the North Vancouver neighbourhood but had no luck. It wasn’t until she heard yowling from above that she realized what had happened.
“I looked up and he’s at the top of this … 90-foot-plus tree,” she said. “He never climbed that high before, not even close to that height.”
Johnson said no one saw how Steve got up so high, but she believes he must have been frightened by a local bear that frequents the area.
Johnson tried to devise ways of getting her cat down but came up short. District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services agreed to come have a look but found their typical ladder wouldn’t reach that high. Instead, they recommended some arborists, though Johnson said most were prohibitively expensive, which was bad news for Steve who was facing his second night sleeping in the elements.
Eventually the cat-loving owner of Tree Care Pros agreed to rescue Steve at a very reasonable rate. He used arborist spurs and a rope to shimmy up to Steve, lured the wayward kitty with treats into a backpack and then lowered him back down to the ground.
Steve, clearly stressed, put on a bit of a display, Johnson said.
“Oh, he was freaking out during the whole time. He was doing a bunch of ninja moves I’ve never seen him do before, standing on two feet. It was pretty interesting,” she said. “The bag finally came down and his nose was poking out.”
A day later, both Steve and Johnson are doing much better.
“He’s resting, sleeping, eating, so he’s good,” she said with a laugh. “I was relieved. I wasn’t able to eat for 24 hours. It was just a mess.”
The experience though obviously left an impact on the normally aloof cat.
“He was super cuddly. Normally, he’s not really cuddly,” she said.
Johnson said she wanted to share her experience with the wider community because she loves reading animal stories in the news – especially when they’re about rescues. And thanks are owed to everyone who helped along the way, she added.
