"Luna" -- A Black Kitty in a Pecan Tree

Executive Summary

I received a call about mid-morning on a Saturday from Jessica - her 2-year old rescue kitty, "Luna", had been stuck in a pecan tree all night near Collinsville MS, could I help? Jessica had spent the night under the tree and was distraught; Luna had been chased up the tree by a neighbor's dog. When I said that I would be there later in the day, Jessica broke down in tears, thanking me. When I arrived, Jessica and Ava (her pre-teen daughter) met me and led me to the tree. Luna was about 20 feet high, and almost that far out from the trunk on a long upward-sloping limb. Jessica told me that Luna was skittish of strangers, so I did not have much hope of bagging him. I first set a rope out on the limb past his position, hoping that the activity would cause him to move back to the trunk. He started moving that way, but slowly. Since Luna was not very high, I assembled my net with its long pole and extension handle, and used it to chivy Luna back to the trunk. Once there, I wedged the net above him so that he could not climb higher. Luna was only 15 feet high at this point, so I used Jessica's extension ladder to climb up to Luna. After some cautious sniffing, he allowed me to pet him, and then bag him. Back on the ground we took him inside for food and water. Jessica declared that Luna would be spending much more time inside from now on!