The cliché of calling the fire department when a cat is stuck in a tree isn't entirely accurate as a group of animal lovers were surprised to find out this past holiday weekend.
Alicia Vassallo was one of the people who noticed that a black and white cat had been in the rafters of the overpass at 15th Avenue and Winnipeg Street for a couple of days. On Monday, she and six others worked for nearly three hours to try and retrieve the animal.
After calling the city, police and fire department, the group worked their phones and social media networks to gather help and finally a ladder - donated by Home Depot - to rescue the animal from its perch after attempts to coax it out with food didn't work.
The cat's owner was tracked down thanks to its identification tattoo and Facebook. According to Vassallo, the animal's name is Minouse and had been missing for more than two weeks. He was reunited with his grateful owner Wednesday.
Vassallo said she was surprised to learn that with the SPCA closed on the holiday Monday, there wasn't another authority able to help them.
According to bylaw services manager Guy Gusdal, the city's animal control staff can step in to help out with calls involving injured domestic animals outside of regular SPCA hours.
The SPCA and city animal control section should be the first calls, agreed Prince George Fire Rescue deputy chief Blake King.
There's no written policy against responding to cats stuck out of reach, said King, but that's "just the way it's been handled for years."
King also said that if firefighters and equipment were responding to a cat call, they could be unavailable to respond to a fire situation.
For emergency personnel, it's an issue of having to prioritize and typically calls where human lives are in jeopardy take precedence, agreed P.G. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Craig Douglass.
A member of Minouse's rescue team called the police for help on Monday, said Vassallo, but were apparently told the RCMP wouldn't be responding.
"We can't justify sending a car to that when we have to attend more horrific, or pressing, situations," Douglass said, but added the police were willing to help when they could.
Last week, a local RCMP officer was flagged down by an elderly woman whose cat was stuck on a roof. At a quiet moment in the wee hours of the morning, the officer did what she could to help to avoid the woman trying to climb up and retrieve the cat herself, Douglass said.
"There's a public safety aspect, not just a cat safety issue," he added.
In emergency situations, city animal control staff can call the manager of the North Cariboo SPCA and there is also an emergency cell phone number posted on their Lansdowne Road door.
The SPCA is also contacted when injured animals are brought to the vet and will help track down their owners.
Currently, the organization is at full cat capacity and isn't accepting owner-surrendered cats.
"It's kitten season," said branch manager Angela McLaren, adding there is a waiting list 40 cats deep. The summer is a peak time for an influx of cats at SPCA branches across the province.
They can take pets in when it's an issue of animal welfare or injury, but otherwise the SPCA is asking people to call them to see how else the cats can be accommodated.
"We're working to try and increase the space," said McLaren. Initiatives such as the recent 50 per cent discount on cat adoption fees are also tools used to ease the cat crunch. "We've asked the community to help us as they can."
