moss
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Carlisle, Massachusetts, U.S.
Hey! How come there's not an "animal in a tree rescue" section in the Forum? Kidding.
Showed up at 5:30 PM after work last week to get a cat out of a smallish white pine before sunset. Turns out the cat was unapproachable, very afraid of humans except for its owners. It was up for 11 days at that point. Had been through 4 days of rain so it was well hydrated. Heat wave was on the way so it was critical to get the cat down for its survival.
I did a multi-point redirect SRS rope set (natural redirects for easy removal later) through a red oak to swing over and come down on top of the cat. Coming up on the pine trunk I would've simply chased him to the very top branches and would not succeed. It turned out he wouldn't tolerate me being in the pine no matter what direction I came from. He went out on a long branch, fell then caught himself on the end of one below. At that point sun was going down, I went to the ground redirected out of the top of the pine and built a tarp catch system under him. Finished that in the dark.
Next morning, day 12 for the cat, I returned. He had returned to the trunk and looked potentially dead. he was wedged in awkwardly on small branches and his head was hanging down, eyes closed. I shook the tree with my line and thrashed the upper side of the tree with the rope. He lifted his head and then put it back down again. I decided it was emergency climb time, went up with my grab bag. When I reached him he "woke up" and started running out the branch again. Normally I like to gradually grab a cat with it in closer to my body, do a test "scruff" and then do the firm scruff and bag stuff when the timing is right. This was a more desperate grab, I extended out and nabbed him on the run. I pulled him in, he was fighting hard, got him in the bag but he dragged bittersweet vines in with him. His body was tangled in the vine, I couldn't get his rear section in. I re-scruffed him 3x as I attempted to break the vines with one hand. On the third re-scruff in the bag he got to me and put a tooth through my left thumbnail and through some soft finger parts (all healed up). At that point "Screw this!" and let him run back out to the branch end.
I went to the ground and tuned up the tarp catch system, A lot of possible deflections on the way down, wanted to make sure I would catch him. I went up planning to cut him out of the tree, put my hand saw blade on the 2" diameter pine branch and before I could even pull he leapt into a tall black cherry and then went to the very top-most small branches. He was now roughly 95' above the ground, and surprisingly still over the tarp catch. I went down, brought the end of my throwline up and from the top of the pine threw a 10 oz bag over a high union in the cherry. On day 2 (for me) of the rescue I had my trap with me (TrueCatch 30B, now discontinued, replaced by the 30D "Wildcat Deluxe" trap). I set a rope and basal anchored on the excellent cherry and climbed up. Trap was left on the end of the tail of my line. When I got within 15' of the cat he freaked out and went to an out small branch, fell then caught himself in the same complex of branches. I stayed quiet a bit then pulled the trap up and set it up, lashing it just above a union at 80' or so. I wove an "on ramp" between branches using a long sling, paracord and small cherry branches (plenty available). Without the on ramp there is low probability that cat will get to the trap entrance. I have good success trapping cats in trees and there needs to be an easy route to the trap entrance whether existing (horizontal limb for example) or fabricated on the spot. With the trap set I headed home.
Day 13 for the cat, day 3 for me I got an early morning text "I think he's in the trap!". "I think" because the cherry is in woods behind the house and I could find only one vantage point on the top of stairs to the second floor of an outbuilding where the trap could barely be seen. Even then I could only verify with binoculars that the trap door was open or closed. I climbed up to the trap and he was in. His name is "Kiitos" which means "Thank you" in Finnish. He was not happy and did not thank me ;-) I brought him down inside the trap and released him inside the owner's house. He was shaky on his feet but looked pretty good considering. One of the owners works at a veterinary practice and had him checked out, all systems go.
Catch tarp tune dup on day 2, two small sugar maples (4-5" diameter) removed for clearance
The dude up in the cherry
Trap set
On ramp built, leaves inside the trap to create a "floor" the cat will walk on to the bait in the back of the trap. Camera is tilted, trap is close to level in all directions.
Morning of day 3, day 13 for the cat, cat's in the trap
On the way down
11 pounder before he was up for 13 days, still heavy enough with the weight of the trap ;-)
Cat in the house, needs a little clean-up ;-)
Base of the black cherry, don't see many this nice in woods without visiting western Massachusetts old-growth sites
Look down on ascent to get the trap down
All the photos here:
https://flickr.com/photos/naturejournal/albums/72157719377986558/
-AJ
Showed up at 5:30 PM after work last week to get a cat out of a smallish white pine before sunset. Turns out the cat was unapproachable, very afraid of humans except for its owners. It was up for 11 days at that point. Had been through 4 days of rain so it was well hydrated. Heat wave was on the way so it was critical to get the cat down for its survival.
I did a multi-point redirect SRS rope set (natural redirects for easy removal later) through a red oak to swing over and come down on top of the cat. Coming up on the pine trunk I would've simply chased him to the very top branches and would not succeed. It turned out he wouldn't tolerate me being in the pine no matter what direction I came from. He went out on a long branch, fell then caught himself on the end of one below. At that point sun was going down, I went to the ground redirected out of the top of the pine and built a tarp catch system under him. Finished that in the dark.
Next morning, day 12 for the cat, I returned. He had returned to the trunk and looked potentially dead. he was wedged in awkwardly on small branches and his head was hanging down, eyes closed. I shook the tree with my line and thrashed the upper side of the tree with the rope. He lifted his head and then put it back down again. I decided it was emergency climb time, went up with my grab bag. When I reached him he "woke up" and started running out the branch again. Normally I like to gradually grab a cat with it in closer to my body, do a test "scruff" and then do the firm scruff and bag stuff when the timing is right. This was a more desperate grab, I extended out and nabbed him on the run. I pulled him in, he was fighting hard, got him in the bag but he dragged bittersweet vines in with him. His body was tangled in the vine, I couldn't get his rear section in. I re-scruffed him 3x as I attempted to break the vines with one hand. On the third re-scruff in the bag he got to me and put a tooth through my left thumbnail and through some soft finger parts (all healed up). At that point "Screw this!" and let him run back out to the branch end.
I went to the ground and tuned up the tarp catch system, A lot of possible deflections on the way down, wanted to make sure I would catch him. I went up planning to cut him out of the tree, put my hand saw blade on the 2" diameter pine branch and before I could even pull he leapt into a tall black cherry and then went to the very top-most small branches. He was now roughly 95' above the ground, and surprisingly still over the tarp catch. I went down, brought the end of my throwline up and from the top of the pine threw a 10 oz bag over a high union in the cherry. On day 2 (for me) of the rescue I had my trap with me (TrueCatch 30B, now discontinued, replaced by the 30D "Wildcat Deluxe" trap). I set a rope and basal anchored on the excellent cherry and climbed up. Trap was left on the end of the tail of my line. When I got within 15' of the cat he freaked out and went to an out small branch, fell then caught himself in the same complex of branches. I stayed quiet a bit then pulled the trap up and set it up, lashing it just above a union at 80' or so. I wove an "on ramp" between branches using a long sling, paracord and small cherry branches (plenty available). Without the on ramp there is low probability that cat will get to the trap entrance. I have good success trapping cats in trees and there needs to be an easy route to the trap entrance whether existing (horizontal limb for example) or fabricated on the spot. With the trap set I headed home.
Day 13 for the cat, day 3 for me I got an early morning text "I think he's in the trap!". "I think" because the cherry is in woods behind the house and I could find only one vantage point on the top of stairs to the second floor of an outbuilding where the trap could barely be seen. Even then I could only verify with binoculars that the trap door was open or closed. I climbed up to the trap and he was in. His name is "Kiitos" which means "Thank you" in Finnish. He was not happy and did not thank me ;-) I brought him down inside the trap and released him inside the owner's house. He was shaky on his feet but looked pretty good considering. One of the owners works at a veterinary practice and had him checked out, all systems go.
Catch tarp tune dup on day 2, two small sugar maples (4-5" diameter) removed for clearance
The dude up in the cherry
Trap set
On ramp built, leaves inside the trap to create a "floor" the cat will walk on to the bait in the back of the trap. Camera is tilted, trap is close to level in all directions.
Morning of day 3, day 13 for the cat, cat's in the trap
On the way down
11 pounder before he was up for 13 days, still heavy enough with the weight of the trap ;-)
Cat in the house, needs a little clean-up ;-)
Base of the black cherry, don't see many this nice in woods without visiting western Massachusetts old-growth sites
Look down on ascent to get the trap down
All the photos here:
https://flickr.com/photos/naturejournal/albums/72157719377986558/
-AJ
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