Gothamist has been in New York a long time and we seldom hear about cats being stranded in trees here. There's always the occasional coverage of a Long Island or New Jersey town with a cat in tree situation, but for New York City. Last night on our way home, we stumbled upon the tail end of a cat/person rescue at McCarren Park in Greenpoint. Apparently a stray cat was stuck on a tree limb about 20' high and a man went up to get the cat. It turns out that the young man who climbed up the tree happened to be scared of heights and found himself stuck with the stray cat. Once called, New York's Bravest came to the rescue, using their cherry picker to rescue both man and cat. When we asked a firefighter how often they get called upon to rescue a cat, Gothamist was told less than once every six months.
We're happy to report that the cat will now have a loving home with the man's girlfriend and her cat. The cat's name? Phieffer after his fire department rescuer.
