The nine-month-old kitten is nothing like his comic strip namesake who is famously known for his laziness. Recently, the kitten played lumberjack and raced up a 60 ft. Cedar tree. Kayla’s youngest daughter, Lizzy, five-years-old, was first to hear him mewing, “Rescue ME-nOW”. She and her older sister, Jazzy, followed Garfield’s cries and discovered him helplessly trapped four stories up the tree. They girls ran next door to their best friends’, Roxy eight-years and Daphne
six-years old, house for a ladder.
The four little rescuers dragged the ladder to the base of the tree. The only trouble was it was four times too short to reach Garfield. Kayla and her small team of helpers spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to rescue their fuzzy lumberjack.
“The fire department doesn’t rescue cats,” said Kayla. “They are understaffed, underfunded and don’t have the right equipment. Besides, our community needs them available for emergencies. So, Garfield spent the next two nights in the tree, haunting everyone by crying outside the girls’ bedroom window.”
Melissa, the neighbor girls’ mother, posted a “Help” on Facebook’s, ‘What's Going On in Cottage Grove, Oregon’. People suggested arborist Tracy Brandt, The Community Arborist. He’s rescued 90 cats since he started his company and appropriately earned the nickname, The Cat Rescue Guy.
“I love living in Cottage Grove and how our community comes together,” said Melissa. “The arborist rescuing cats is a paws-itive way of advertising. By word of mouth, our entire neighborhood knows Tracy, as a result he will get our business for tree removal, pruning, stump grinding, and hedge maintenance.”
Last summer’s fires displaced cougars and coyotes that are surviving by hunting our pets in town. This may explain why so many cats are up trees and stolen for the predators’ dinner off front porches and out of fenced backyards. Luckily, it was just a crazy-wild moment of teenage energy that put Garfield out of reach.
“Young cats climbing up a tree is natural,” said Tracy. “But climbing down is a learned behavior. I cancelled a job and headed out to rescue Garfield.”
After 32 hours of the best view in Cottage Grove, it took Tracy ten minutes to climb the Cedar wearing climbing equipment, placed a willing Garfield into the bag tied at his hip, and descend to the little girls’ delight. Probably Garfield’s too.
“I want to safely reunite cats to their people at no charge as community service. I do accept donations. Some cats climb the same tree twice,” said Tracy. “I recently rescued Raja from the same tree twice, once on a Tuesday and then on Thursday.” WATCH: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm7xwFHfuzs
Lizzy said, “I will be mad if Garfield goes back up the tree.” But the very next morning, Garfield raced up the tree but thankfully, this time Melissa’s husband could rescue him.
“Hopefully, that will be our wild boy’s last rescue,” said Kayla.
