A short-haired orange tabby, stuck high up a power pole criss-crossed with ominous electrical lines, was saved by a good samaritan this week in New Mexico.
Alerted by the cat’s yowling, Dawn Hill located the feline up the power pole in an alley behind a house across the street from her.
“I called the fire department, and they just laughed at me,” Hill said.
Hill then contacted Belen Animal Control, and out came Vidal Torres, an all-around animal lover and owner of three cats.
But it was clearly a job not suited for animal control.
“We have techniques, but not the equipment available,” Torres said. “Anything I have wouldn’t be safe at all, especially around electrical wires.”
So Torres contacted PNM, but he was informed that help was at least an hour away.
“This cat would could probably get down once it calmed down and decided it’s hungry enough to want to get down,” Torres said while peering at the caterwauling kitty.
“Cats think more than dogs. Dogs act, cats think about things while they’re doing it. So if a cat’s just kind of sneaking its way up a tree and coming down, they have it all planned in their head. This cat probably did it on a whim by being chased by a dog, and he’s now calculating what he wants to do next.”
Torres left to respond to another call, but Hill and nearby resident, Antonio Ortiz, and his brother, Hilario, hatched a plan to rescue the troubled tabby.
They fetched a ladder and a long piece of lumber, and while Hill steadied the ladder, Antonio climbed up and placed the front end of the lumber at the cat’s feet. Hilario held the back end of the lumber, providing the catalyst for the cat to walk down.
The cat quickly put his two front paws on the lumber, and appeared to be ready to walk down, but backed off.
Torres then returned with a pair of gloves.
Antonio donned the gloves, climbed the ladder once again, and with some effort, freed the cat from its perch amid the power lines and returned it to terra firma.
“The cat is free to go,” declared Torres, while observing that the animal was about a year old and obviously domesticated.
Kitty showed its apparent gratitude by nuzzling all around.
“I just wanted to get the cat down,” Antonio said. “He’d been up there all morning.”
[SOURCE: Valencia County News Bulletin]
