Canopy Cat Rescue fill a need because there appears to be a dearth of professional tree climbers who are committed to rescuing cats stuck in trees. These two guys appear to be highly professional and they rescue cats from trees almost full-time. They say that they have other things to do but most of their time is spent looking down about 50-100 feet above the ground while stroking a kitten or cat who is balanced precariously on a narrow branch oblivious to the dangers. The highest stuck cat was 165 feet. Sometimes the cats pee on them (perhaps in fear) or defecate. Tough job!
Two brothers rescue hundreds of cats stuck in trees every year 🐱 pic.twitter.com/GUklujKIyl
— Insider (@thisisinsider) January 6, 2019
This video has a different perspective on cat rescue from trees. You see the action from a videocam attached to the tree climber. Normally we see videos from the ground and a tiny speck in a tree which is the stuck cat.
It is certainly something that I could not do because as I have become more elderly I have developed a fear of heights.These guys have rescued 3,000 cats from trees and therefore they know all about it. They say that there are occasions when domestic cats simply are stuck and need help. They say that after a day or two they need help and sometimes cats are stuck for six days or more.
Strange domestic cat failure
At one time I asked whether anybody has seen a dead cat in a tree because we never hear about cats being stuck in trees and dying there because nobody had rescued them. The point that I was getting at was that eventually cats come down but according to these guys I am wrong. It is a strange state of affairs for a domestic cat to find himself in. You would have thought that cats would naturally know their limits preventing this problem happening.
Small wild cat ancestor does not get stuck
We can’t ask cats why they get stuck. Are they stuck because they are frightened of coming down backwards? All domestic cats have to come down backwards because their claws are designed that way. There is one small wild cat species, the margay, which can come down forwards i.e. headfirst because they can twist their paws around allowing them to grip as they come down. This small wild cat lives in trees more or less.
I am convinced that you would never see a North African wildcat stuck in a tree. This small wild cat species is, as you know, the forerunner of the domestic cat. Why then should domestic cats get stuck in trees if in their DNA there is the natural ability to get down?
