Stuck In A Tree No More

The men and women of the area fire and rescue crews respond to all sorts of emergencies at all hours of the day. Recently one of those crews responded to the cry for help of one particularly vulnerable member of the population.

Deputy Chief Marcus Ruley, Assistant Chief Joshua Arthur and Captain George Richard of the Kerrs Creek Fire Department were out in the 800 block of White Rock Road on Sunday, May 28, when Michelle Messer, who lives on that road, flagged them down. Her cat, Sonny, had been stuck in a tree for three days and she asked the men to help him down. The men were answering a call about a downed tree and told Messer that once they were finished with that call, they would return to help Sonny.

“He got chased up a tree by dogs that run loose on our road,” Michelle said. “He was up 30 feet on a tree overhanging a steep drop off. He couldn’t get down because he is young and doesn’t use his claws unless he is very scared.”

Michelle and her husband Paul Messer had been trying for days to get Sonny to come down and even thought about building a ramp for the cat to walk down, but Sonny’s position was just too far up in the tree. Hearing him cry was agonizing to the Messers. Sonny is an indoor/outdoor cat, but he sleeps inside at night.

The weather has been nice up until that Sunday, but rain was in the forecast.

When Michelle saw the rescue crew out in her neighborhood, she felt that her prayers were being answered.

True to their word, the men did return to the Messer’s property. It was Capt. Richard who climbed the 40-foot extension ladder to rescue the stranded Sonny.

“Sonny was very grateful and didn’t claw his rescuer,” Michelle Messer said.

Last Wednesday, Messer decided to thank the crew by providing them a meal consisting of lasagna, salad and sweet tea.

“They said, ‘You didn’t have to do this,’ but I wanted to. They do so much,” Messer said. According to Messer, Sonny is doing great and shows no scars from his traumatic time in the tree, except for a slight injury to his tail.

“He’s a big ole marshmallow,” Messer said of the ginger tabby Sonny, one of four cats in her home. “I don’t think he will ever go up a tree again.”