Thanks to a local rock climber, a young New Brunswick boy has his cat back after it was stuck on the ledge of a bridge for four days.
It took three separate rescue attempts before experienced rock climber Rehan Basson successfully pulled off the daunting feline rescue.
The first plan to get the cat was to lower a live trap, baited with food in hopes of luring the cat to safety.
But that failed.
"It was really hard to get the live trap there, because you had to swing them in," Nicole Thebeau of Kent County Animal Rescue told CTV Atlantic.
Next the Saint-Louis-de-Kent Fire Department did their best to help.
They raised a ladder, but as a firefighter was climbing up it, it collapsed and he fell to the rocks under the bridge.
The firefighter was taken to hospital and treated for injuries.
But Basson was the lucky charm.
Using his rocking climbing expertise, Basson set up a rappel, which was anchored with ropes onto a truck.
He then lowered himself down to the cat and eventually the animal came close enough for Basson to grab it.
"It slowly started approaching me until I could pet it, eventually it came closer and closer, it became comfortable when he came close enough I was able to grab the cat, put it in the bag, and rappel down to the bottom," he said.
The rescue was made even more special due to the fact that the cat’s owner, Max Martin, lives with an auto-immune deficiency.
"I'm really happy to have been able to help,” said Basson.
Thebeau told CTV Atlantic that Martin is grateful to have his cat back and the firefighter who fell is home recovering.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis.
