Neighbors Wouldn’t Give Up: Mittens Rescued After Days in a Tree

Neighbors called everyone and spoke out online in their efforts to get help for Mittens. A news crew came out the day a caring arborist worked for hours and finally got Mittens down.

Bloomington, Indiana resident Heather Clinger took in a stray black and white kitty she named Mittens, in November.  The cat escaped earlier this month and ended up stuck 70 feet up a tree. Heather and her friends and neighbors tried everything they could to bring Mittens down, but days stretched on with the cat in a precarious position without food or water, except for what condensation she could get off of leaves.

“We’ve been trying since last week to get her,” Heather said on the day of the rescue. “We tried the cat food, the kitten treats, (calling) ‘Kitty, kitty, and calling the animal shelter.”

The Bloomington Animal Control Shelter said it was not equipped to make the rescue, and the fire department said they couldn’t get their equipment close enough to get the cat.

In desperation, four different people posted at the Bloomington Animal Control Facebook page on December 9, after Mittens had been stuck in the tree for days. Some of the comments from the shelter’s Facebook page:

NEED HELP: Cat stuck in tree for 4 days can not get anyone to help?????called everyone in Bloomington we put someone in Jail for harming a sweet cat but then turn around and let one die in a tree or fall to it’s death …feel free to read my status this is a outrage

This poor kitten/cat has been stuck in this tree on Poppy Lane at Heatherwood Park in Bloomington for over six days without food and water. The Animal Shelter, Fire Department, and Animal control have refused to help. It is up over 60 feet in the air in this tree. Does any of my friends know of someone who can assist with either a bucket truck or is an experienced climber. We have a person that is willing to take it into their home. It is going to die if something is not done now. Please if you know of someone, contact me! This outrages me that no one cares enough to help a needy animal.

WHAT ABOUT HELPING THIS POOR CAT THAT HAS BEEN STUCK IN A TREE FOR 6 DAYS???? DID YOU REALLY SAY YOU WOULDNT HELP AND ONE LADY JUST CALLED AND WAS TOLD YOU WOULDNT DO ANYTHING ON THE WEEKENED??? SO NOW THE THE CHALLENGE IS OVER YOU DONT CARE OR WHAT?? IM SURE SAVING THIS CAT WOULD BRING IN DONATIONS!! BUT NOT TO SAVE IT IS GOING TO LOOK AWFUL ..JS PLEASE HELP !!!

A number of local residents were frustrated that, while great concern was being shown to Lennox, a cat who had been stolen from the shelter, abused and left for dead and then found alive and relatively unharmed, there was no similar level of interest in the cat stuck in the treetops. Bloomington Animal Control said while they were not equipped to make the rescue but gave out the phone number of a tree service that might help.

A number of tree climbers tried to rescue the cat, but came down empty-handed after not being able to get high enough into the tree.

On Tuesday, December 11, Brady Gilliham with Soaring Eagle Horticulture tried and succeeded in bringing Mittens down. Brady spent hours reaching the spot where Mittens was and luring her over to him with food. Once she was close enough, he handily placed her in a bag.

“It felt nice. I imagined my daughters, like if it was their cat, so it was pretty easy to stay up there until she came (to me),” he said.

Heather Clinger said, “Brady is my hero. He has a special place in my heart.”

Mittens was cold and hungry but was expected to recover well from her ordeal. She was taken to a vet and was expected to be released to the person who offered to give her a permanent home.

As we have learned, when the fire department, public utilities and animal control won’t or cannot help, it sometimes pays off to call a tree service. Things sometimes get done when a call to a TV news crew brings out a reporter for a video report. In this case, WRTV came on to the scene and made this report the day that Brady Gilliham finally got Mittens down.

.

Karen Harrison Binette

See author's posts