A cat's tale

They say the Sault is a community of good-hearted people and this story certainly confirms it.

Last week, Nancy Solomon, owner of Algoma Tree Services, received a call from Madeleine Moore whose granddaughter’s three-month-old kitten had climbed 40 feet up an oak tree.

“We really had never received a call like this before,” said Solomon. “Usually people just call the fire department. But she told us her situation and we were up at her house in Searchmont within a couple of hours.”

Moore says the cat – a black fellow named Sylvester – had been literally ‘out on a limb’ for over 24 hours. “It was wobbly and getting weak,” says Moore. “It wasn’t too bad that night but the cold was coming in and we had to do something.”

Algoma Tree Services secured Avery Arbour – the arborist (yes, his last name really is Arbour!) to the tree with ropes.

Yet despite the ladders, Arbour had to climb up even further, shaking a small bag of cat treats the whole way up.

“It was taking what seemed like forever,” says Moore. “It got to the point where he had walked out to a part of the limb that was no thicker than a pop can and I just couldn’t watch anymore.”

Meanwhile, another crew member stood below the tree eyeing the situation for a potential free-falling kitten.

Within 40 minutes of cat-to-human cajoling, the kitten was secured in a safe box on Arbour’s back as he climbed down.

“We are all pet lovers here,” says Solomon. “So we just didn’t feel it was right to charge her – especially when it’s for a little girl.”

Granddaughter Claire Moore missed the dramatic rescue because she was at school – but was more than ecstatic to learn her kitten had been rescued. And it remained on her lap the rest of the night.