Cats & Ladders

I was cutting ivy down from the trees again today and I'd finished with this one and took a little break. Nest, a very independent and smart little girl-cat, acted upon her innate curiosity and walked up the rungs of the 40-foot ladder and snooped around on the newly naked limbs she found there. Nest could never have gone there before with the thick ivy covering the trunk entirely. Now there were bugs to be looked at and fresh smells to be sniffed.

In the US there is an old folk-scenario where a cat gets stuck high in a tree and its fearful owner calls the Fire Department to rescue it. In reality firefighters are very rarely willing to rescue a cat from a tree, and in my city they have a policy that forbids it.

I just found a site that says,
"If you've given your cat what seems to you enough time to come down on it's own but the cat seems unlikely to climb down the tree, then a professional should be called.
"How do I find a professional to rescue my cat?
"Use the directory on this site to find a climber in your area willing to get your cat down safely for you. If we do not have a climber listed in your area try calling a local tree care company, one that has professional tree climbers working for them. Also your local animal shelter or veterinary may know of services available in your area."

I don't even want to read any further. It's more than a little revolting for me to hear of people who are so slow in practical matters that they think a cat, healthy enough to climb up, can't climb down when pursued by the grey wolf of hunger, AND so damned rich that they'll pay an arborist at least several hundred dollars to do what hand-wringing would accomplish nicely.

That's my rant for this evening. Nest, of course, walked down the ladder just as calmly as she had ascended it and then she went on with her fuzzy day without a care. now if I'd snatched the ladder away, the next scene would have gone exactly like THIS --vines, play, daring rescue --exactly thus.