Tree climber rescues cat stuck for 5 days
Published: November 8, 2006
Whiskers, the cat, who was trapped in a tree for five days in Martinsburg, was finally rescued Monday night after a third-generation tree climber heard of the animal’s plight and came to his aid.
Jim Cosner, a 41-year-old Hedgesville man, said he was watching the local evening news Monday to check on election coverage when he saw the cat stuck in the tree.
His wife then called in to see if he could help.
Cosner, a Guardian Fiberglass employee, who does tree work on the side part-time with Cosner Contracting, comes from a long line of skilled tree climbers. His grandfather was a timber cutter and his father was a tree climber. [People Who Sweat: My Middle-Aged Adventures among Tree Climbers, Mall Walkers, Surfing Housewives, and Other Unlikely Athletes]
“I’m a third-generation tree climber,” Cosner said. “I’ve been climbing since I was 15. I grew up in the tree business.”
Once he arrived at the scene with a rope, harness and spiked boots it took him only about five minutes to scale the large tree and rappel down with Whiskers.
“It’s so nice to do something to help animals and other people out,” Cosner said. “I’m really blessed I could help somebody out.”
It’s not the first time Cosner has rescued cats who have found themselves trapped in trees. He said he’s had similar calls several times in the past, though he said it doesn’t happen very often.
Usually, he said, the cats are scared so he climbs slightly above them then wraps them in a blanket, covering their eyes so they don’t get even more spooked. While he’s been scratched in the past in such rescue attempts, Whiskers wasn’t in any mood to put up a struggle.
“The cat was really calm,” Cosner said. “This one wasn’t very scared. It was ready to come down, I think.”
Whiskers’ plight was brought to the attention of the local media Monday by Pamela Fisher and her family who live in the South Queen Street Townhomes neighborhood near Berkeley Heights Elementary School.
The Fisher family, including their young daughter Paige Fisher and others in the development, befriended the beloved neighborhood cat, who has no known owner.
Whiskers, named so by the Fisher family, showed up in the neighborhood about a year ago when it was still a kitten and those in the neighborhood have been caring for it ever since.
The Fisher family noticed Whiskers was stuck in the tree last Thursday but initial attempts to coax it down with food didn’t work. Residents called the fire department Saturday but rescue attempts using a ladder and water failed.
For the next two days Whiskers wouldn’t budge, crying for anyone to help until Cosner arrived at the scene Monday night.
“He was up and down and out of the tree in five minutes,” Pamela Fisher said Tuesday. “The cat went straight to him just begging. (He) grabbed him and brought him back down. He’s in the house now sleeping.” [Rainbow Bridge, A True Story About Rescue Cats]
Despite being stranded without food or water for five days, Whiskers appears healthy and happy to be finally back on the ground, according to Fisher.
“He’s doing good. He ate like a little pig last night and he slept all night,” she said.
Pamela Fisher also wished to thank Cosner for his effort.
“God thank you so much. He’s an angel. A very big angel,” she said.
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