Romeo's Rescue

Romeo is an 8 year old indoor cat who brings much comfort to an elderly woman who lives on a dairy farm with her daughter between Pittsboro and Siler City.

Romeo snuck out of the house and somehow made his way into a maple  tree.  Later, when the daughter followed Romeo's cries she found him about 15 feet up the tree. But when she tried to help him down by taking a ride up to him in the bucket of a skid steer, he just went further up the tree.

Romeo spent three days in the tree and on his second day a terrible thunderstorm swept through with strong straight line winds that blew limbs out of other trees on the farm.  Luckily Romeo was able to stay safe, but the storm was not enough incentive for him to make his way down.  Neither was a night full of rain on his second night.

I got to the tree the morning of his 3rd day in the tree.  The rain had mostly stopped and he was nestled in a large fork in the tree about 30 feet up.  As I set my lines Romeo moved another 10 feet higher and all the way out to the furthest flimsy branches of the crown. Food and sweet talking didn't bring him to me so I resorted to the rescue net first, and then the rescue pole.  Although I have practiced with the rescue pole this was the first time I used it in a real rescue.  It worked well even if I was a little clumsy.  The most important part of a pole rescue is getting the rescue cable around the cat's chest not neck and thankfully Romeo stepped right into the snare.