photo/Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
Last month my husband, Ed, was asked to rescue a cat who was stuck in a tree for 4 days! He loves to problem-solve and this rescue required some fast thinking.
Ed has saved many animals in difficult situations for the Reading School District, Pennsylvania, including ducks, opossums, raccoons, snakes, deer, cats and dogs, to name a few. Cat stuck in a tree was a first.
A dedicated woman had been trying to rescue this feline since the 1st day. A local shelter was also trying. Unfortunately, all attempts to save the anchored cat were unsuccessful. The cat was a bit of a local social media sensation due to the nature of the situation which we didn’t know.
I was with Ed during the rescue via the phone during this adrenaline-filled adventure. The cat was initially 25 feet above the ground nestled in the crotch of the tree. It was imperative to save this cat.
Cats can survive over a week in a tree. Young, sick, or elderly cats need to be rescued sooner rather than later. No food or water for 4 days puts a cat at risk of starvation/ dehydration which ultimately can affect kidneys and cause them to fail. Ed was going to rescue the cat that day.
Most fire departments no longer rescue cats due to liability issues and also to be available for other emergencies involving humans. Same goes for the police. But, you should still call them to see if they will assist because there are still some who are willing to help.
The district’s bucket truck was utilized for the rescue. Ed’s plan was to place the bucket 10 feet above the scared cat hoping she would run down the tree. Ed didn’t know cats need to go down backwards to get out of a tree since their claws face backwards making it nearly impossible for felines to run head first down a tree. (See video) Many know how to but others simply don’t.
The cat fled up the tree 10 more feet! Ed knew he needed to be eye level with her. He spoke calmly to her. Ed noticed her left ear was tipped meaning she was a TNR (trapped, neutered, return) feral cat. So now he feared being bitten or scratched since many feral felines don’t like being touched. Luckily he was wearing rubber gloves.
Cat who was stuck in tree for 4 days.
photo/Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
As he was talking to the “feral” cat, she suddenly bolted and jumped out of the tree landing on her feet, suddenly realizing she wasn’t in the tree. Instead of taking off on land, she ran straight up the same tree. Either she became too weak or lost her balance when she was 12 feet above ground and fell to the ground again! She meowed and didn’t move.
The cat who was stuck in tree for 4 days finally rescued and in carrier.
photo/Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
An upset Ed threw his shirt on top of her body which seemed to comfort her. Not knowing if she was seriously hurt or going to attack him, he approached her carefully. Ed could see she resigned herself to staying on the ground. This allowed him to do a visual examination and slowly touch her. He realized this “feral” cat was friendly.
Ed slowly slid the fatigued feline into a carrier. The adrenaline started pumping through Ed’s body because he was concerned if she had any internal injuries. He wanted her to be checked by a vet. He called the Animal Rescue League of Berks County which is responsible for handling all animals in the county. Despite being open, no one answered the phone.
He took the cat to a nearby shelter, the Humane Society of Berks County, hoping their animal hospital would examine her.
NOPE! Not only not interested, but also telling Ed they would only help the feline if she belonged to a No Nonsense Neutering cat colony. This shelter has partnered with NNN, a group who spays and neuters cats including feral ones.
“The cat will be put down if she doesn’t belong to NNN.”
No attempts would be made to find out where she belonged! Outrageous!
I told Ed to leave! Do not give the cat to them! I felt the adrenaline raging in my body!
Ed was “totally spent, emotionally and physically burned out.” Ed felt the options he was given for the cat he just saved was “frustrating as all hell.” To help a cat out of a dire situation and then be told by “compassionate animal people” that she will be killed unless she belongs to one of their feral cat colonies completely blew our minds. A shelter should help in any way to save an animal’s life!
By the way, the ARL of Berks County came under heavy scrutiny last year when they killed two pet cats within a month. This left Ed apprehensive to drop off this calm “feral” cat at their place. If you have an animal emergency situation, you should be to get a live person.
Ed returned this gorgeous, clean cat to the area where she was found and placed her on the ground in the carrier but away from the trees.
A bit later, the interim executive director of the ARL showed up to rescue the cat and was so thankful to find out Ed already saved her. He told him he was a hero, a sentiment not shared by Ed.
This gorgeous cat who was stuck in a tree for 4 days, safe on the ground and in a carrier. photo/Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
When Ed told the director he was my husband, the director told him to tell me that this cat won’t be euthanized. ( I devoted two television shows about the cats who were killed at the ARL.)
The director assured him the cat belonged to one of their cat colonies.
I emailed the director inquiring about the cat’s health and was told she suffered no internal injuries and had been adopted. She was doing well in her new home. I was relieved to hear the great news as was Ed!
Why would a feral cat they ear-tipped be adopted? Plus, there was no feral cat colony in the area where she was found. Why doesn’t this quite make sense?
I now searched for her story on Facebook since I had no clue about her “social media status.” On the page where her story was, I attempted to enlighten the members about what my husband did. Not only did they have no interest how Ed rescued the cat, they had the audacity to tell me that writing an article about the actual rescue was wrong. In fact, it was mainly the people associated with the page who “saved” her, according to whomever was communicating with me.
I would never diminish or deny anyone’s efforts to rescue this cat including the woman who was dedicated to saving this cat and the ARL. Fact- Ed is the one who ultimately rescued the cat. A simple truth that couldn’t be appreciated by the very people who were “so concerned about saving this cat.” Strange, to say the least.
A cat stuck in a tree for 4 days was rescued with no injuries. A shelter willing to kill a healthy cat if she didn’t belong to one of their colonies was shocking!
The cat would be dead if Ed left her there!
Then you have members of a fb page who were outraged when I said I would write a story on the actual rescue.
A strange ending to a heartfelt rescue. We’re just glad the cat is safe and doing well. That’s all that matters.
https://www.facebook.com/tinaevangelistaeppenstein/videos/10216348684733455/
Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein is a television talk show host, speaker, writer, and an unabashed animal advocate. Her love for animals and quest for the hard truth is what drives her passion for all things animals. She hosts the television show, “A Close Up Look at Animal Welfare Issues.” She adores her tripawd, Brody, who was a formerly abused pup who lost his leg because of cruelty inflicted upon him. If you’d like Tina to talk to your group or have a story, please email her at tevangelistaepp@yahoo.com. Like https:www.facebook.com/ACloseUpLookatAnimalWelfareIssues and be sure to check out AnimalWelfareIssues.com.
The animal community seems to be confused about their role with helping animals. It doesn’t sound as if they know how to work together. The shelter who wanted to kill the cat- I hope others read what you wrote so they know the truth. Your husband is a hero despite what others think.
Sometimes, egos get in the way. I’ve been an animal advocate/activist since 2000 and I’ve met a lot of people in the animal community during this time. Some people have fragile egos and feel the need to control others while others have a narcissistic ego thinking the world revolves around them. Then I’ve met a lot of good people who have healthy egos who feel pain when their animals are in pain. They are joyous when an animal makes them or others happy. They tend not to have issues with other people. Although, I can understand why one may not like people so much after seeing what humans are capable of doing to them. Animal abuse wears you down.
Social media is playing a role with back-stabbing others in the animal rescue field. A woman who started a rescue wrote a viral fb post last year telling others why she had to quit. She said the animal community wasn’t nice to her telling her she couldn’t run her own rescue which she did in two years and was an official non-profit. She saw how people could be nice to her and then speak negatively about her and others on social media.
She said it was too much. This is a real issue. I’ve seen it before and I’m sure I”ll see it again. It doesn’t bother me. What’s concerning is the ego telling me what I’m allowed and not allowed to write. It’s absurd.
I agree with your comment about Ed being a hero! It was nerve-wracking during the entire process for him. He was very scared the cat was hurt. He wanted to help and didn’t want anything to happen to this cat. We are just so happy she is doing well!
Thank you.
Social media has become a hub of hatred, narcissism and jealousy. Don’t worry about what the members of that page said. Too many egos. You and Ed showed real compassion. Ed is a hero. Congrats to him and the cat!
Thank you. I addressed what is happening wiht social media in my above comment.
Thank you!
WTH is wrong with the Humane Society of Berks wanting to kill the cat? What a stupid rule! How do some of these shelters or rescues stay in business? Some are downright awful. They monitor animal abuse in the community. Who monitors them?
Ellen,
I have no idea why the HSBC didn’t want to help this cat even if it didn’t belong to one of their colonies. It’s a very selfish move on their part and downright deadly for feral cats. Very sad.
Thank you.
They have a stupid policy in place! I’m shocked they’d rather kill a cat than find where she belongs. Who’s in charge there? That’s so wrong on so many levels. What’s wrong with the shelters in this county? Does anyone really care about the animals? Apparently not.
Stupid is as stupid does. They have a stupid policy that needs to be changed! What’s wrong with the shelters in this county? They have a bad track record for killing pets. If I find an animal, I’ll try to find the owner on my own.
She is a beautiful cat. She’s not your typical feral cat. Too clean and gentle. I think you’re right. Something’s amiss. Shelters don’t adopt feral cats. Hmmmm smh…very weird, Tina. Is there more to the story?
Good for your husband to save this cat. Too bad others could care less about what he did. Glad you told your husband to leave that shelter. That’s nasty. Some people shouldn’t be in this field.
Ed isn’t concerned that others don’t really care about what he did but he found it peculiar that they wouldn’t be interested knowing how she finally got out of that tree. We both thought they’d want to know the details. Oh well.
Thank you.
Cats get hurt when they fall asleep in trees and fall out. Some become seriously hurt or die from them. It’s super this sweetie had no internal injuries. Did your husband give her food and water? She’s lucky no other animals went after her. Sounds like an amazing rescue but the aftermath was unforgivable.
I’ve found “animal people” lacking compassion for people. Seems like everyone runs a rescue now with social media. Some think they’re hot sh^& when in reality some are hoarders are keyboard warriors at best. Don’t pay attention to them. They don’t matter.
Sad that both shelters were a bit useless.
In the end, all that mattered is she is doing well and now living in a home. Hopefully, they won’t let her roam around outside. Too many cats outside already,.
Congratulations on rescuing this cat!!
Thank you!
Some animal people have the worst dispositions I’ve ever seen. Some are cold and harsh and don’t have a clue how to interact with people. Seems like you came across them.
I addressed the animal community is my first comment on here. The worst part was the shelter wanting to kill the cat and having no issues with it. Not my kind of shelter.
Thanks.
Those extremists can be real wack a doos. They think they have the right to dictate to others. I’ve seen them on facebook and I get rid of them. I’m all for animal welfare but some take it to extremes that are incorrigible.
At least the cat was saved! That IS what matters!
Get rid of the egos. Geez.
Thanks Jarry,
Egos in the animal community are a distraction and have the ability to hurt the good work so many are doing. There is no room for narcissism in this field even though it exists.
It’s very sad and unfortunate for animals the damage some do. There are still a lot of good, honest people who work their butts off to help animals.
And yes, all that mattered in this case was the cat being saved!!
Thank you!
The egos are so bad in this community. I’m sick of the self-righteous, you’re no good to adopt the pet I have and I know better than you attitude. They’re just people who have animals and they’re trying to find homes for them. Many are disguised as hoarders and I know some of the places aren’t good. Hiding behind a social media page, they think it gives them clout.
check them out! Find out who they are. You can’t take a lot of them seriously. Some of these so-called “rescues” are people with mental health issues.
social media has changed so much for animals. Everyone thinks they’re an expert and they’re not.
For someone to tell you NOT to write a story tells me they are hiding something! Any legit group would welcome the notoriety and appreciate it. Something’s not right with them. I’d tell people to stay away from them.
You never told us who the group was.
crazy cat community at it again. This isn’t an isolated case with cat people. It happens across the nation. Sorry you had to get caught in the middle. Glad your husband was able to SAVE the cat! 🙂
Wow….a shelter wanted to kill this cutie if she belonged to someone else’s feral cat colony! That’s crazy! That says a lot about animal people. Where’s the accountability for them? They should be ashamed.
Good rescue by your husband! Most cats will come down but most likely when no one is watching. 😉 I’m not shocked the way the animal world treated you and Ed. Been there myself. Some are plain, well, how can I say this politely? Wacky! I think most mean well but their approach is bad when it comes to communication.
What was the name of the fb group who didn’t want you to write your story? Coo-koo. 🙂
Great rescue story! I wish people would keep their cats indoors then we wouldn’t have this problem. Spay and neuter your pets too!
Damn, the shelter who wanted to put down the cat isn’t looking out for the cats! Shame on them! I’ve found quite a few people in this field a bit weird. There are some who think they are the only ones who know how to take care of animals and can give them a good home. Too many are judgmental of others. That’s disturbing. Many have fragile egos. Can’t questions their “authority” because their feelings will get hurt. Some need to shut up and listen to others.
So happy the cat was rescued by your husband! Yay for him and forget about that group. It doesn’t matter what they say.
Have a nice 4th!
Cat people are a bunch of crazies at times. Some rescues won’t even let you look at a cat until you fill out all of their forms. They want you to agree to unwelcomed home visits at their discretion. I love my animals and take excellent care of them. I’m not giving them the right to come to my house whenever they please. Some of their requirements are outrageously stupid and they wonder why they have so many cats. We have the right to interview them as well. Ask them to show you their 501 3(c) papers. Ask when they’ve been inspected and what the results were. Some are too fanatical. I know and can respect they want the cats to go to good homes but they go over the line. Sorry. I had to add my 2 cents. Bravo on the cat being rescued. Don’t worry about what they think. The cat knows your husband got her out of the tree! 🙂
Made my day! Thanks for sharing this rescue!!
I m an ardent cat lover so much that I possess everything that has cats on it. From cat earphones to cat slippers. My heart sank to know that shelter communities did not pay any head and I m so proud what we still have people who genuinely love animals and can go to any extent to help them. I m so glad and proud of your husband and you for giving a new life to a dying cat.