Story About Mission to Rescue Cat Stuck in a Tree

A kitten climbed a tree on Tuesday and stayed there for three days before a rescue operation, involving tree crews doing work on behalf of Connecticut Light & Power, forced it down.

When Officer Carolee Mason first learned of the kitten in the tree, she didn't grow too concern initially because cats often climb down given some time.

But for three days, 7-month-old Luna hung 60 to 70-feet up in the area, screaming to come down but never taking that step, said Mason, who periodically would come to check up on the cat.

The cat's owners also tried to lure the cat down by putting out food at the base of the tree, but still the kitten persisted in staying up in its perch, though it made sure everyone in the area knew it was still up there.

"The thing was constantly crying," Mason said of the cat.

On the third day, Thursday, the animal control officer returned to the scene and together with out-of-town tree crews, who had been called into the area by Connecticut Light & Power to cut back the arbors on the street, decided to take more aggressive steps in getting the cat down.

Initially, the group, which was comrpised of Townsend tree workers from Georgia and Alabama, had decided to hold off on a rescue attempt because the limb on which the cat was situated hung above a swampy area that made it difficult to manuever in a bucket truck without risk getting the vehicle stuck in the mud, Mason said.

So the group decided to put food into a bucket and through a impromptu pulley system, raise the bucket to the kitten. But that move just made the feline even more nervous, forcing it even higher up on the tree, according to Colin Reilly, 15, whose family owned the cat.

"That scared the cat so it went 30 feet higher," he said.

For some time, the cat could be observed hanging onto a tree limb that was rocking back and forth into the air as the winds began to pick up. Eventually, the winds proved too much as the cat fell from the tree, landing into mud, which helped softened its fall, Reilly said.

"We took it to the vet and it's going to be fine," the teen said of Luna.

Mason said she is thankful to the tree crew who took the time to try and help.

It may have fitting, though, because, according to Reilly, the cat apparently ran up into the tree because it was frightened of the crews as they arrived on scene with their heavy equipment to trim back trees.