Superior Cranes crew brings feline out of tree, but …
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
WEST ROCKINGHAM — This was no ordinary cat rescue.
Local law enforcement couldn’t help. Strike two with the fire department. So Garrett Street resident Sharon Pankey turned to social media. On a popular secondhand sales forum, Sarah Haynes Everett encouraged Pankey to reach out to Superior Cranes.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Cats don’t seem to mind looking down on humans, especially when given such a beneficial vantage point from which to do so.
She did, and a three-man work crew showed up at 2 p.m. to assess the problem, which happened to be in the form of an orange-and-white cat perched high up in a tree behind a home in the 200 block of Garrett Street.
Climbing the tree to reach the cat was ruled out when, about 30 feet in the air, it was discovered the tree had a large crack. It wasn’t safe to proceed. The climb was aborted at 3:23 p.m. It was decided. Cut the tree down.
“He’s gonna be my cat,” Pankey said as the men prepared to get the cat out of the tree. “I’m gonna keep him inside so this doesn’t happen again.”
Things didn’t exactly go accordingly to plan. The chainsaw roared to life at 3:34 p.m. The Superior Cranes employees managed to guide the tree to fall away from a nearby home but as the tree fell, the cat jumped. And ran.
There were rumors about the cat. First that it had been stuck in the tree for three, or even up to six days through cold and wet weather. That myth, though, was likely dispelled when Superior Cranes employees noticed fresh cat paw prints at the base of the near. Given the recent rain, the prints would have been washed away if they’d been made a few days ago.
Another was that the cat had bitten someone had was supposed to be quarantined. En route to be quarantined, however, the cat escaped.
No matter the cat’s true history, Pankey figures and hopes the feline’s nerves will settle and it will return to the neighborhood. She’s put food out for it. And if it does, the cat already has a name.
“Arbor,” Pankey said.
An appropriate moniker that will help this day live long in memory.
* Update 5:46 p.m. – Pankey called and said the cat had returned. Approximately 30 minutes ago, a neighbor knocked on her door with the cat in her arms.
“He’s eating good and getting along well with the other animals in the house,” Pankey said. “He has a home now.”
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