Who says firefighters won’t rescue a cat in a tree anymore?
On Tuesday of last week, some big-hearted North Vancouver firefighters did just that, after getting a call about a vertically challenged kitty stranded up a tree in North Vancouver’s Princess Park.
Firefighters arrived at the park around 7 p.m., put up a ladder, and climbed up about six metres (20 feet) to successfully rescue the petrified pussycat and bring it down, said Assistant Chief Jim Bonneville with District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue.
That doesn’t always happen, added Bonneville.
“They’re scared. That’s why they’re up there,” he said. Sometimes the sight of a firefighter climbing up a ladder just sends a freaked-out feline even higher up the tree, he added.
As a first option to bring distraught kitties to ground, Bonneville recommends owners open a can of tuna and place it at the base of the tree.
Typically cats that have been in a tree for a while are getting peckish, and the smell of food can lure them lower, he said.
Bonneville adds that rescuing cats isn’t really in a firefighters’ job description.
“Officially we don’t really take cats out of trees,” he said. “But how do you say ‘No?’ ”
