"Batman" Stuck up a Bat Tree!

Details

I have found that the surest method to make the Kat Fone ring is to pick a random day of the week, and then attempt a quick nap at lunch time. This time it was Laura, whose kitty had been stuck for three days in Columbus MS. She had been referred to me by the local Animal Shelter, could I help? I arranged to be there later that afternoon. When I arrived, I was greeted by Matt (Laura's husband), who led me to the tree in the front yard. "Batman" was about 35 feet up, out on the only good limb on this smallish diameter hardwood. Matt helped me haul my gear to the tree, and Laura joined us. She said that this was the second time that Batman had been stuck, the first time was when they lived in downtown Columbus. That time, the Columbus Fire Department got him down. This was not an option now as they had moved far outside the city limits. Batman was a mostly indoor cat who had escaped outside, and then took it upon himself to climb this tree. Sigh.

Batman was moving about the limb, clearly wanting a rescue. I waited until he was away from the trunk, and then shot a throwline over his limb. I quickly installed the climbing rope and started up. I thought this would be an easy rescue as Laura described him as a very friendly kitty. As it turned out, Batman did not trust this strange person in his tree and retreated far out on his limb. I used my cat-food-on-a-stick trick to lure him part of the way, but then he started to go back. I tried to block his progress with my extendable pole but he slipped past it. We then started a long process of Laura and Matt calling to him, and myself shaking a bag of kitty treats. I was on the verge of trying to use the rescue pole when Batman SLOWLY started making his way back to the trunk. He would advance a step or two, wait, settle, stand up, sit down, then advance again. He finally came close enough to smell the kitty treats in my left hand. This did not impress him so he began to step over to a smaller side branch on the trunk. This was my chance. By standing up on the rope grabs on my climbing rope, I was able to reach him with my right hand and make a firm scruff lock -- into the Kat Bag with you! Back on the ground, I handed Batman off to a grateful Laura. The post-rescue picture below (courtesy of Laura) shows Batman happily snuggling with Laura.