Ungrateful cat rescued after five days in tree

Collarless tabby ran away after rescue

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updated 11:01 a.m. ET Dec. 9, 2005

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - It took two rescuers with a saw and a fish net to free a cat that spent five days in a tree.

But if the cat was grateful, it didn’t show it. It took off.

Local residents first noticed the collarless tabby hanging out in a tall hemlock tree on Saturday.

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When it hadn’t climbed down by Monday, someone tried to reach the kitty with a tree pruner. But that only made it climb higher, about 40 feet into the air.

With frigid temperatures and a snowstorm closing in, police were called. An electrician scaled the tree and cut the narrow branch the cat was clinging to. That sent the angry, meowing ball of fur plummeting to the waiting fish net below.

Before the cat could be grabbed and checked by a vet, it escaped through a hole in the net and ran off.