Gus's family didn't think too much of it when he didn't return home for his evening meal one day. But when he didn't come around the next day, or the next, or the next, they really started getting worried. By the 8th day they had driven around looking for him along the side of the road fearing the worst, but still they had no definitive sightings or any evidence of what happened to him. On the morning of day 8 they got a call from someone who had seen a plea for information about Gus on their community Facebook page. That second family had found Gus in a tree in their yard two days before, but had not had any success in coaxing him down from the tree.
Fearing that Gus had been in the tree for the full 8 days of his absence, his family called around and eventually were given my information from Orange County Animal Control. Sensing the urgency of the situation I rearranged my schedule so I could perform the rescue during an extended lunch hour.
Gus was about 25 feet up a skinny tree. The tree he was in didn't have any adequate branches that could hold my weight so I put a high line in a nearby sturdy oak tree and climbed up to Gus using a foot loop and limb cinch setup.
Gus's "mom" had warned me that he isn't too keen on strangers, but he was too exhausted to put up any fight when I got to him. Given his lethargy and sleepiness even during the rescue, I think it is likely he had been in the tree for 7-8 days.
The tree where Gus was stranded was within the wooded yard shared by two boisterous, but friendly, large dogs. I believe Gus didn't make his way down or jump from 25 feet because he was scared that the dogs were nearby. At the end of the successful rescue when Gus was safely in his car, we let the resident dogs out of the garage per the home owners request. The last few seconds of the video show the energetic dogs -- If I was Gus I think I would have been pretty scared of them, too!
