A North Vancouver cat should count his nine lives, as Steve has been rescued from the top of a very tall tree for the second time in six months.
Owner Michelle Johnson heard from her partner at work that their orange cat didn’t come home Monday night. Her partner went searching in their backyard in Pemberton Heights Tuesday morning, shaking a bag of treats.
“When he didn’t come home like he normally does, it was like ‘Oh no, he [did] it again. I had a feeling he was stuck somewhere,” she said.
Johnson’s partner then looked up, seeing Steve two doors down sitting on a thin branch near the top of a 30-metre (100-foot) tree, meowing.
Steve has been in this rodeo before. after possibly being frightened by a local bear that frequents the area. District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services agreed to come have a look but found their typical ladder wouldn’t reach that high. An arborist was then called in to save the orange cat shortly after.
But Johnson doesn’t know why Steve climbed the tree this time.
Once she heard the news, Johnson called the same arborist to come to Steve’s rescue.
This rescue was a little more difficult as the cat was in her neighbour’s yard, she said. When Johnson got home from work, she knocked on her neighbour’s front door to go in the yard, but they weren’t home, leading her to ask other neighbours to help get close to her cat.
Three hours later, the arborist climbed up the tall tree and gave Steve a few treats, put him into a bag and lowered the orange cat safely to the ground.
“[I feel] a lot more relieved,” Johnson said. “But I’m scared to let him outside. I don’t want it to happen a third time.”
When Steve got stuck the first time, he didn’t leave the house for a while, Johnson remembers. However this time around Steve wasn’t fazed and was back outside in an hour.
After the second climbing situation, Johnson is thankful to be with her cat again. Steve is thankful too, she said.
“He is doing OK. But he is more clingy than normal,” she said.
