TORONTO -- A cat trapped on a Toronto hydro pole during a winter storm was reunited with its family on Saturday after an animal service organization spent days searching for its owner.
Toronto Animal Services started searching for the owner after the small black and white cat was spotted by a couple as it tried to balance itself at the top of a hydro pole around 8 a.m. during a winter storm on Thursday.
The cat's owner Urial Colin chuckled as the feline emerged from its cage and into his arms, saying he felt happy to finally reunite with the little one.
He told CTV News Toronto that he had left the door open overnight so the cat could come home, but later found out that it was at Toronto Animal Services.
The couple who initially found the cat contacted 311, Toronto Fire and Toronto Animal Services on Thursday to get help, and while emergency crew don’t normally respond to such calls, they made an exception due to the storm.
“We came back around to the alleyway and as soon as we came over she started crying and meowing at us,” Kristine Ball said Thursday. “She is somebody’s cat and she is scared.”
Toronto Hydro eventually climbed up and grabbed the one-year-old male cat, bringing it down to safety and admitting it into the care of animal services.
A spokesperson for Toronto Animal Services said the cat is doing well and they had monitored the animal for potential frostbite.
The organization said on Saturday that they located the potential owner of the cat, and is contact with the family.
The owner came to the East Shelter on Progress Avenue in Scarborough at around 1 p.m. to identify the cat as their own using photos.
“He is happy, very affectionate,” the agency said. “Understandably, he is very hungry so he is eating well … He is a sweet little guy.”
Toronto Animal Services took to social media to try and find the owner. The cat had not been neutered and did not have a microchip.
“He’s in good condition, but rather thin and understandably nervous,” the agency had said on social media.
“We don’t know how long he was up there, but think that he might have gotten lost, decided to climb, got disoriented from the storm and then didn’t have an exit strategy.”
Toronto Hydro, whose staff visited the cat Thursday to check on its condition, said the cat had been named "Everest," but his real name was discovered to be Bruno.
