"Sophie" IN a Cedar

Anna from Florence AL contacted me - her kitty "Sophie" was stuck inside a concrete block retaining wall that ran alongside their back driveway. There was an open hole along the top, and Sophie, an inside kitty, got outside, and then went in the hole.  I was unsure how to approach this, as the only other "kitty-stuck-in-wall" rescue I did was solved by taking apart the wall (which was not option here).  I thought about it overnight, but the next morning was still unsure what to do. However, Anna contacted me again and said that Sophie was now in a tree by the house! That problem I could solve. When I arrived later that day, Anna was at work but Mary, her mom, showed me the tree. Sophie was about 35 ft up at the very top of a bushy cedar. Mary said Sophie was very skittish, so we made sure the hole in the concrete wall was blocked up and cracked the garage door a bit so that Sophie would have a place to hide if she jumped on me. I put a rope about 20 ft up, climbed to that point, then used double lanyards to push up through the dense cedar to the top. Sophie got scared and retreated to the twigs at the top of the tree. I could just reach her with a treat but she was not interested and growled at me. I decided to try the short grab pole for a firmer grasp,  but she jumped out of the tree as the loop approached her, crashing through some limbs on her way down. She landed on her feet and immediately headed for the hole in the concrete wall, but could not get in. She then jumped to the base of the wall and retreated into the garage through the cracked door.  Mary soon reported that Sophie was safe inside.  Whew, glad that ended well!  Mary, many thanks for your generous donation to the Greater Huntsville Humane Society!  Also, thanks to the Florence Fire Department for referring Anna to me!