Firefighters Amazingly Catch Cat Stuck In Tree

Firefighters—is there anything they can’t do? They’ve always been among our personal heroes, mostly for the way they run into burning buildings and risk their own lives to save those of other people. But we’ve also always been partial to the way that they’re willing to rescue the occasional feline mischief maker who’s managed to get himself stuck in a tree too high to climb back down from. That’s exactly what happened in May of 2019 in Porterville, California.

A ginger tabby obviously wildly overestimated his own abilities to get back down from the monster tall tree he’d somehow gotten to the top of, and it took the compassion and quick thinking of the local fire department to help him return back down to earth. Watching this video gave us actual goosebumps, although fortunately (spoiler alert!) everything ends well for the kitty—and the humans—in question.

Snapping into action with some remarkably quick thinking, the fire fighters set up a large tarp-like trampoline at the base of the tree the cat is stuck in, thus creating the purrfect (pun intended!) landing platform for this tentative tabby, once he’d worked up the nerve (or perhaps been coaxed from above) to leap to safety. As you’ll see upon watching this, the frisky feline who was the cause of all this fuss didn’t stick around for very long to thank his human saviors—but, then, open displays of gratitude is probably a bit much to expect from any cat.

We’re sure that his human caretaker was beyond thrilled for the safe return of his or her beloved companion—and, from the cheers of onlookers, it seems as if the entire community was happy with how things turned out. Probably the only thing left to figure out is how to keep cats from climbing too high in the first place—although that’s one of those mysteries that’s probably best left to the ages, because (as any cat person could tell you) it’s well nigh impossible to “train” any cat not to do cat like things.

This video’s definitely a gripping one—and also heartwarming, which is an unbeatable combination. So your best bet would be to hit the Play button as soon as you can, or else you’ll be kicking yourself for the rest of the day over the missed opportunity. And be sure to forward it to someone else who loves happy endings as much as you do!