"Cocoa"-- A Kitty Stuck Out in The Kold

Details

Pictures arrived on my Kat Fone from Rachel showing her family's young kitty 50 feet up a tree. The temperatures had been in the mid-teens the two previous nights, so the kitty had been through some rough times. Rachel was referred to me by the Oktibbeha County Humane Society and lives in my hometown of Starkville MS. After a few text exchanges, I arranged to be there that afternoon.

When I pulled up in the driveway, I saw Rachel at the tree shaking a food bag, encouraging Cocoa to come down. Cocoa had actually come down about 8 feet from his original position in the picture at the end of this write up. He was in a large union that looked perfect as a tie-in point. While I was trying to figure out how to shoot a throw bag up there without hitting him, he climbed back up near his original position. This was fine with me -- this would allow me to use the union as the tie-in point and I felt confident that he would climb back down to me. After one miss, I was able to hit the target union and pulled up my rope. During this time, several neighbors joined us in the rescue effort ( Will J., Butch J., Christopher, Christopher's Dad) and were willing to hold a tarp in case Cocoa fell. I started up and was soon at the target union. Coca was still about 8 feet above me. I was able to stand up on a limb near the union and closed the distance to Cocoa, but still could not reach him. I reached around my harness and pulled out some kitty treats, thinking to entice Cocoa to me. However, when I looked back up, Cocoa was already backing down the trunk towards me. It was easy to nab him and put him in the Kat bag. After a quick ride down, I handed him off to Rachel for warmth, food and water. The picture showing Cocoa in the tree from the ground is courtesy of Rachel.