Buzz
On Monday, May 31, in Schenectady, New York, a cat named Bae was finally rescued after being trapped in a park tree for over a week. According to Newsweek, part of the delay in organizing a rescue operation after Bae was first seen on May 24 was due to the Schenectady Fire Department's decision not to intervene. As a result, Allmark Tree & Crane Service took on the task instead.
This situation likely raised some questions about whether firefighters actually rescue cats from trees, or if it’s simply an old myth perpetuated by beloved children's books and television shows.
The quick answer is: It varies depending on the fire department and the type of tree involved.
Since fire departments are equipped with tall, sturdy ladders, it’s natural to call them when your cherished pet is stuck on a high branch. This approach can sometimes yield results. Firefighters have rescued cats from trees in California, Florida, and Pennsylvania recently. And it’s not just trees— in 2019, Georgia’s Roswell Fire Department shared on Facebook that while many of its team had responded to a cat-in-a-tree call, “more often we’re rescuing adorable and curious kittens trapped in walls.” (The post included some pictures of a kitten they had just saved from a wall.)
However, other fire departments have informed callers that they won’t retrieve cats from trees. Some will at least evaluate the situation to determine if a quick and easy rescue is possible. But if it's complicated, they may decline to help.
“It’s not something we’re trained to handle,” Fire Chief Dean Kochanowski of Dudley, Massachusetts, explained in 2018. “Our equipment is designed for fighting fires in buildings and similar situations.” Maneuvering a ladder through a dense tangle of branches could damage the equipment or injure the firefighter.
In the same report, Mark W. DiFronzo, fire chief of Southbridge, Massachusetts, told the Telegram & Gazette that they’ll turn down the request if they’re short-staffed. “If we take the ladder truck to rescue a cat and then get a call for a heart attack, how do we explain that to the victim?” he said. Another fire official mentioned that their department has a strict no-cat-rescue policy to avoid making difficult decisions.
In conclusion, firefighters are certainly known to rescue cats from trees. But if one tells you to contact a tree and crane service instead, it’s not because they lack compassion for cats.
