"Princess"-- A PRetty Predicament

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I was eating breakfast when I noticed that I had some new texts on the Kat Fone from the previous night. They were from Philesa; she had been referred to me by Sara A. who works at the Oktibbeha County Humane Society. Her family's new kitty had been stuck for four nights in a tree in their front yard in Caladonia, MS, could I help? I contacted Philesa and arranged to be there later that afternoon.

When I arrived, Philesa, her son (Lakelan) and daughter (Bre), and a helpful neighbor Mr. Carl, all met me in the front yard. Princess was about 50 feet up an oak tree, out on a small limb. Philesa said that Princess had been traveling all about the treetop trying to get down but did not know how to come down the trunk. They started calling to her, and Princess came back to trunk. This made me hopeful that Princess would be cooperative during the rescue. As I was setting up, Philesa related that the kitty, who was a gift to Bre, became stuck in the tree the very first day in her new home when the introduction of Princess to their inside dog went awry. Princess had weathered some severe storms the previous night; it was a wonder that she had been able to stay in the tree.

I soon had a climbing line established and started up. Princess had retreated back out on the limb, but she made her way back to the trunk as I neared my tie-in point. Meanwhile, the rescue committee of Philesa, Lakelan, Bre, and Mr. Carl held a tarp under the tree in case Princess fell. When I reached my tie-in point, Princess was still about 8 feet above me and out of reach. Princess was clearly glad to see me, but could not figure out how to climb down to me. I used my lanyards to climb above my tie-point to reach Princess. She readily allowed me to nab her, and made minimal complaints in the Kat bag. Once back on the ground, I handed Princess off to Bre who took her inside for food, water, and loving. Bre even gave me a hug for rescuing her kitty, which made an old man happy! The post-rescue picture below shows Bre and Princess (photo courtesy of Philesa).