Troy Fire Department Actually Saves Two Cats Stuck In A Tree

TROY (WWJ) -- Believe it or not, the fire department does sometimes rescue cats from trees.

On Friday, the Troy Fire department got a call reporting two cats were stuck in a tree at the Northfield Hills condominium complex, near Coolidge and Long Lake. The caller said that the cats had been in the tree since Wednesday without food or water and after numerous attempts at coaxing the cats with a rope, ladder, and cat treats, the cats refused to come down.

The owner went so far as to place her vehicle under the tree with a cat climber on the roof in hopes of reducing the height from the ground, so the cats could eventually jump down onto it from the lowest tree limb.

Two fire staffers arrived and saw that the two one-year-old cats, Chloe and Zhoe, were each on different limbs about 30 feet up a 40-foot tall willow tree.

After about an hour -- and a couple of close encounters -- the rescuers were able to finally grab Zhoe by the nape of the neck and carry her down to her anxiously awaiting owner, Ann Marie.

Somewhat less cooperative, Chloe would only walk back and forth on a higher limb just out of reach, and then lie down. Another official arrived with climbing gear and ascended the tree, but as he got closer to Chloe -- in typical cat fashion -- she decided to play hard-to-get and climb even higher out of reach.

After a short chase through the tree, Chloe jumped out of the tree and onto the owner's car before running back to her home. Both cats turned up safe inside the condo with Ann Marie, with hopefully no intention of tree climbing ever again.