Whitehorse firefighters rescue cat stuck in tree

Porter Creek resident describes 90-minute effort from “awesome” firefighters to free feline Porter Creek residents witnessed an event that was a little cliché but entirely admirable as the Whitehorse Fire Department deployed a ladder truck to save a spooked cat from a tall tree.  Tom Patrick was in the Boxwood Crescent area on April 2 when the fire department arrived at around 5 p.m. in search of the cat. He says it was a roughly 90-minute effort for four firefighters to get the cat out of the tree but they were able to get a handle on it and bring it down the ladder. “They were awesome” Patrick said of the first responders in an email to the News. Patrick and his family took the cat in for the evening before delivering it to the Yukon Humane Society. If the cat has an owner, Patrick said they hadn’t been located as of the afternoon of April 3 but he hopes that will change. Patrick’s wife was told at the humane society that the cat appears to have been living outdoors for some time. He described it as seemingly young and “friendly and chill” with spotted grey-and-black fur. He thinks the cat climbed the tree to evade a fox before finding itself stuck. Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com