Cat Rescued After 4 Days Atop Phoenix Utility Pole

PHOENIX, AZ — A “pole cat” — no, not the ferret-like animal known for its fetid stench or a derisive term to describe ne’er-do-wells, but a cat atop a utility pole — was rescued Monday in Phoenix. The hapless black-and-white tuxedo cat had been trapped on top of the pole since Friday and neighbors were the human version of scaredy cats fretting mightily about the feline’s fate.

And they weren’t just local neighbors, either. The area’s 911 dispatch center was flooded with calls after a Phoenix television station posted a Facebook Live video of the cat high on her perch, and among hundreds of calls were some that came from as far away as Florida, New Jersey and Ohio.

A neighbor took matters into his own hands Monday and propped a ladder against the pole, climbed up and rescued “Gypsy,” the name given to the cat by residents of neighborhood near 37th Avenue and Bethany Home Road.

Jenny Hardin and Ash Morgan learned about Gypsy’s plight on the Facebook Live video. She “comes and goes,” Hardin told The Arizona Republic, and is regarded as a “community cat.”

Neighbors tried everything to get the cat down.

They had tried luring Gypsy down from her perch with food and water. She stayed put. They sent a bucket up on a pole, hoping Gypsy would jump into it. She didn’t. She didn’t jump down from the pole, either, a source of relief for Hardin, who helps feed Gypsy.

“That is kind of high for a cat,” Hardin told KNXV-TV.

After KNXV posted video of the trapped cat on social media, so many calls came in to the 911 emergency dispatch center that operations nearly came to a “screeching halt,” The Arizona Republic reported.

The Phoenix Fire Department routinely helps pets out of terrible circumstances, like when they get stuck in storm drains and trees. But calls that involve human life take precedence, Phoenix Fire Capt. Rob McDade told the newspaper.

“We love animals,” he said. “But while (callers) feel that there might be very justified in their emotional response, we have human lives we have to save at the same time."

Image and video via KNXV-TV YouTube