Ottawa arborist rescues orange cat stuck in tree for days, with help from Reddit

Arborist Tyler Sirrs captured the harrowing rescue of a cat who got stuck at the top of an 80 foot tree in Ottawa’s on Saturday. (Tyler Sirrs/Provided)

A curious and daring orange cat that found itself stuck far up a backyard tree in Orléans was able to be rescued with help from local residents and an arborist who took to social media to call for help.

On Saturday, a Reddit user posted a photo to the group r/Ottawa showing the feline high in the branches of a tree on Teal Crescent and was asking for anyone who might have ideas on how to bring the animal down.

Users commenting on the post said the cat had been stuck since Thursday but had not been able to find any way to get it down.

Tyler Sirrs, a certified arborist living in Kanata, says he was at home when saw the dozens of posts left by various residents who got involved. Despite it being his day off, he thought his experience would be best suited to rescue the animal.

“I was at home looking at all the posts, and eventually, I thought I’d come over and take a crack at it,” he told CTV News Ottawa.

After arriving to the area, residents showed them to their backyard, where he could see the animal in a tree about 80 feet above the ground, Sirrs said.

Using his equipment to get up the tree, along with a can of chicken pate, he was able to get around six to seven feet below the cat but could not get any higher.

“I’m stuck a few feet below and I’m using the chicken pate to try to coax the cat into coming down,” he said.

“They were cold and shaking.”

Sirrs said, despite his best efforts, the cat would not budge and his tools were not long enough to reach it. That’s when the fire department arrived with an idea.

“The fire chief had the idea to bring in a pole with a loop that can restrict and pull wild animals,” he said.

Holding the tool in one hand and a plastic cat carrier in the other, he was able to grab the stubborn feline and get him into a carrier.

“I had to wrangle him out of the tree,” he said. “He was really nice to us once he got down.”

Sirrs says the conditions of the rescue were complicated, with the cat being so high up and the branches at the top being so thin.

About a dozen neighbours came out to watch the entire ordeal. It took about an hour and a half to get the cat down.

Once down, the cat was able to be safely transferred back into the hands of its owners, who arrived during the rescue.

Sirrs says he’s grateful for the help of the community and the fire department for their help.

“It was really a community effort,” Sirrs said.

“The people who posted online, those guys are the real heroes of this whole thing. And thank you to the firefighters. With their help, I was able to get the last few feet I needed to get him down.”

While Sirrs has assisted in other cat rescues in the past, he says this was “a pretty interesting experience.”

“I am very pleased I was able to come and get the little one out of the tree and it was a lot of fun,” he said.

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