Cat rescued from 60-foot perch

MARION — A half dozen people held the brown tarp as the calico cat, paws splayed, plummeted from a tree limb 60 feet above the backyard of the Homeless to Home Animal Rescue and Cat Sanctuary.

Necco, named after the wafer candy because of her multiple colors, landed with a smack on the improvised plastic safety device and seemingly within a split second sprinted into an adjacent kennel area on Monday afternoon.

A smiling Jeanine Tarantino, owner of the sanctuary located just south of Marion, expressed her gratitude to Duane Hook and Angie Shyrigh, a Columbus couple who are among a number of climbers around the world who work with the Cat in a Tree Rescue Service.

"These guys were great," said Tarantino, who learned of Hook's availability through an Internet search after Necco climbed the tree about 4 p.m. Sunday. "I was up all night talking to her, worrying about her."

Using arborist rope, Hook climbed the elm tree, which he said appeared to be in decline, and attempted to coax the cat from its perch several feet from the trunk. Initially, the cat held its position, then crawled farther toward the end of the limb.

"Come on, kitty," he said. "... Yeah, she's not interested."

Preferring, he said, to persuade her to climb back to the trunk, but noting her reluctance to comply, he draped another line over the branch and with Shyrigh pulling down from her position on the ground, tried to convince the feline to jump to the tarp. The attempt was unsuccessful as Necco clung tightly to the shaking limb. Once the shaking stopped, she moved farther out on the limb to its smallest, weakest point, providing Chuck Borden, a sanctuary volunteer, the opportunity to shake her loose.

"I'd say the cat's in fair condition, so the outcome is good," Shyrigh said, smiling and rating the rescue as a 7.5 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10.

Hook, a recreational climber who's climbed trees in the Amazon River Basin and the Cloud Forests of Costa Rica, said he's rescued nearly 40 cats since 2012 and enjoys providing the service.

"I'm an animal lover and ... I'm pretty good at tree climbing," he said. "Along the way if there's a way I could use my skills to help animals and help people, that's why I do it."

Tarantino found the couple through catinatreerescue.com, a website for the service, which was started in 1998 in Seattle by Dan Kraus, a competitive tree climber. The website provides a directory of climbers with locations around the world.

Shyrigh, who's climbed a number of cell and other towers as an inspector, said they do the rescues as a service, not a business; "volunteer basis or maybe gas money."

People who have a cat up a tree can use the website directory to locate and contact a climber near them.

Hook recommended in instances where a cat has climbed a utility pole to contact the utility for assistance.

"It's a challenge," he said. "Cats, you can never tell what they're going to do."

He said he appreciated the assistance provided by Borden, Jeanine Tarantino and her husband Jay, and sanctuary volunteers Ken and Patty Mishler. "This group was great because they were holding the tarp."

Back on the ground, Necco sauntered inside the kennel of the 60-year-old sanctuary, which currently houses 15 cats as a satellite of the Wyandot County Humane Society, Tarantino said.

"We couldn't do what we do without the Humane Society," she said.

jjarvis@marionstar.com

740-375-5154

Twitter: @jmwjarvis