Kentville firefighters were involved in an unusual rescue Feb. 18 – they had to cut down a tree in order to rescue a cat.
Kentville firefighters successfully rescued a cat trapped in a tree Thursay, but it wasn’t necessarily your everyday run-of-the-mill animal rescue.
Firefighters responded just before 1 p.m. to render assistance to the animal, which was near the top of a tall tree on School Street in Kentville and wouldn’t budge.
The rescue took longer than it would have under normal circumstances, as firefighters finally ended up cutting down the tree to save the feline. The cat rode the tree down to the ground and quickly scampered away, apparently uninjured.
“It’s not normally this involved,” said fire captain Shaun Morrison. “Usually, we can use our aerial ladder, but we couldn’t this time because of the power lines.”
Instead, the decision was made to shake the tree in an effort to get the animal to move, “and if that didn’t work, cut down the tree and hope the cat ended up OK.”
Everything worked out for the best, though the cat may have used up one of its nine lives on its trip to the ground.
“It was really the most humane thing to do, under the circumstances,” Morrison said.
