Big Rescue Event in Raymond or Cat in the Tree Hoopla

This is Sammy. Sammy is the new Butterscotch and white kitten who greets us every morning when Elaine and I walk. She has a home, but is overly friendly and likes the ritual of being petted and getting a small handout of dry cat food every morning. We’ve met her owner and luckily, he doesn’t object to our ritual. In the past, we had one woman who starved the cat she had and tried to get us arrested for helping the poor animal out. Anyway, as we were walking past Sammy’s house 3 days ago, we heard a kitty in distress. When we finally looked up, we realized that Sammy was up a tree and was afraid to come down. We called and encouraged her to come down, but she was too freaked out. I knocked on Sammy’s owner’s door and he told us she had already spent a day in the tree before we found her. Not knowing what else to do, I called the mayor’s office, even though it was Saturday. The sheriff’s department came on line and I told the lady on the phone our predicament. I asked her to contact Animal Control and she did. So I drove to Sammy’s house and showed the two officers who came out where the cat was. They tried and tried for a couple of hours, but no luck.  Sammy was not coming down. I gave up for the day and went home.  The next morning, Elaine said she didn’t want to walk by the cat again since it was going on the third day and didn’t want to hear her cries of distress. So we walked another way. Unknown to us, the Animal Control officer contacted the fire department and they came over to see about the cat. A number of people were coming out of their houses to see what the commotion was about. The police were there, and a few other rescue vehicles. They decided to use the fire hose to knock the cat out of the tree. By this time, some of the neighbors set their lawn chairs in the yard and continued to watch with refreshments in hand.  Well, it took 3 tanker fulls of water for them to be successful. The more they sprayed, the higher up the cat went. Finally, Sammy fell out of the tree. There was supposed to be a guy at the bottom of the tree holding a small trampoline to catch the kitty, but when the cat came down, he panicked and ran away.Why, I don’t know, but that was what I was told by the spectators. Sammy hit the ground running and took off, away from the crowd. I guess she gave up one of her nine lives, but she survived. The next day, when Elaine and I went by Sammy’s house, she came out to greet us. I checked her all over, but she had no injuries. I was amazed. So I gave her a handful of kitty chow, smiled, and moved on.