Cat Stuck in Tree for Three Days—See the GoPro Rescue Video

For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2017

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A 15-year-old cat named Butterfly was chased up a tree by a dog. Too afraid to climb down, he remained stranded there, three stories high, for three days—that is, until PETA heard about his plight and dispatched a professional to climb the tree and retrieve the cat. He filmed the whole rescue mission on his GoPro camera, which can be seen in this new PETA video.

In the video, the rescuer can be heard reassuring Butterfly that he’ll soon be safe again. “You OK, huh? Yeah, you’re OK,” he says, as he uses ropes and pulleys to climb the tree and even hacks through branches with a saw to reach the frightened cat.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points to Butterfly’s predicament as just one of the many reasons why cats belong indoors: Not only do they get stranded in trees, they also are vulnerable to predators, suffer from hunger and dehydration, and are often harmed by people who considered them a nuisance. Cats left outdoors are also at risk of ingesting poisons and pesticides, contracting diseases from other animals, getting lost or hit by cars, and much more.

More details about Butterfly’s rescue are available on PETA’s blog.