The black and white cat, safe in a cage after the rescue. Photo’s supplied
OUDTSHOORN’s local cat lady, Lee-Ann van Sittert, took the call of duty far and beyond recently.
According to Lee-Ann, owner of the Cat Hotel and volunteer at ACT (Animal Care Team) SA, she received a call just after 16:00 on Monday about a cat stuck in the roof of Mr Price Home.
Apparently the cat had wandered into the shop, but when employees of the shop tried to catch it, the cat ended up on a roof beam. The shops’ ladders were too short, and members of the Oudts-hoorn Fire Department came to the rescue.
“I am really afraid of hights, but the rescuer in me could not leave the cat stranded so high above the ground,” Van Sittert said.
She started talking to the cat in a calming voice and was eventually able to stroke the cat. When it seemed that the cat was ready to jump, Lee-Ann grabbed it behind its neck, but that was not the end of the daring rescue.
“I had to climb backward down the ladder with only one hand,” she explained. “Being afraid of heights, and climbing down a ladder with a heavy cat is not an easy feat.”
Kylie Gielink, Lee-Ann’s daughter, assisted her mother, waiting with a net, and caught it halfway down.
The very tame black and white cat is currently safe and well-fed at The Cat Hotel in High Street.
• To adopt this lucky cat, contact Lee-Ann on 083 334 0172. (By Angelique Erasmus)