Good guys and expert rescuers to Washington state’s felines in distress, Shaun Sears and Tom Otto of Canopy Cat Rescue were profiled Monday in a well-deserved KING 5 News feature on their free service when they responded to a call from a woman who couldn’t get help from anyone else when her cat was stuck precariously up a tree.
Shaun and Tom are brothers-in-law and expert arborists who branched out (so to speak) from their tree service when they realized that petparents and other people reporting cats stuck up trees often had nowhere to turn for help.
There are a lot of tall trees in Washington, and panicked or curious cats seem to keep getting themselves into a jam when they make the mistake of climbing the trees to the point where they become stuck and scared.
A rescue here and there for the arborists became a time-consuming sideline that now sees Canopy Cat Rescue saving hundreds of cats every year.
Shaun and Tom consider their cat rescues a service, not a business. They do not charge for rescues but accept donations. That way, anyone who needs help for a cat can call them whether they can pay or not.
KING 5 profiled the guys in a feature this week that saw them helping Lavette Ford and her cat King. After getting no help from anyone as she called around, Lavette finally connected with Canopy Cat Rescue when her local fire department suggested them and passed along their contact info.
Canopy Cat Rescue’s reputation is so solid that several fire departments now recommend them when they get calls looking for help for stranded, treed cats.
The rescuers say they are on track to rescue more than 400 cats this year.
Watch the KING 5 report on Canopy Cat Rescue the day they got King back safely on the ground and into his petmom’s arms.
