CANADA – A cat who was stuck for four days up a high voltage power pole in Princeton, B.C., has finally been saved.
The owner spotted the one-year old tabby on Monday morning 18 metres up and had been trying to coax it down ever since.
Bill Backhall, the cat’s owner, said it was “a desperate situation,” with vultures and also a raven flying nearby.
He thought his cat had been scared by something and chased up the pole by another cat in his rural neighbourhood.
Video of the little ginger-and-white cat showed it in severe distress, meowing loudly. Mattresses had been placed around the bottom of the pole in case it fell.
Bill Backhall holds his cat after it was rescued from a high voltage power pole. (Brenda Engel/Similkameen News Leader)
Blackhall had been trying since some time Monday to convince BC Hydro to rescue his cat, but the utility said it would be a tricky job.
According to BC Hydro, specialized equipment was needed on this particular site because the lines near the cat were carrying 138,000 volts of electricity.
Big thanks to our crews who arrived to #savetheprincetonbccat, now safe & sound with owner. pic.twitter.com/dH6wuFxfqQ
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) April 15, 2016
A persistent social media campaign calling for BC Hydro do something gained a great deal of momentum, and even local MP Dan Albas took to Twitter demanding action.
Usually handled by private citizen or fire dept but because it's a power pole only @bchydro can help-so please help! https://t.co/BNdtvzVW8a
— Dan Albas (@DanAlbas) April 14, 2016
Finally on Thursday, BC Hydro tweeted out the information that a crew based in Salmon Arm, nearly 300 kilometres away, was on its way to make the rescue.
Looking at every possible option to safely rescue the cat in #PrincetonBC. Challenging situation as it's very high up (approx. 60 feet) 1/2
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) April 14, 2016
Dag Sharman, a spokesman for BC Hydro, said that it might be able to rescue the cat without having to shut off off the power, especially since it feeds into a mine in the area.
He said it’s not uncommon that animals climb up top power poles, but 99 percent of the time they come down on their own and usually it’s not one of these tall high-voltage transmission poles.
As for why the crew came from such a far distance, BC Hydro says it doesn’t have customers in the area.
Blackhall said his orange tabby will not be an indoor cat, once she was rescued.
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