As we all know, Hurricane Harvey caused a great deal of destruction to the state of Texas, even when the natural disaster weakened to a tropical storm. Bird-watcher Chantal suddenly spotted a cat hiding in a tree in the middle of a swamp in the Sorrento area a couple of days after the storm passed. The bird-watcher heard a cat crying and also managed to capture a quick glimpse of the feline with her smartphone.
The woman then reported the trapped cat to a local animal shelter, CARA’s House. Chantal also provided them with the picture of the cat and the coordinates where she spotted him.
Even though the effects of Harvey were still strong, Randall Kolb, better known as “Cat Rescue Guy”, wanted to rescue the cat at all costs after hearing about him through CARA’s House.
The man wasn’t too keen on climbing a tree to rescue the cat and didn’t know how he would handle this unique situation.
“Harvey was causing intermittent showers in the Baton Rouge area, but it was generally mild enough that it would not prevent a rescue. But I was not sure how I was going to handle this rescue. The pictures I saw showed standing water in front of the trees, but I could not see the backside, and I had no idea how deep that water was. It would be very difficult to climb a tree surrounded by water, and I had never considered doing that before,” the man wrote on the Cat Rescue Guy blog.
Randall suspects that the cat climbed the tree while it was still dry on the ground, and since heavy rainfall started four days before he arrived, the cat has likely been stuck in a tree for multiple days. Randall’s wife Judy decided to help along with the rescue and were still unsure how to approach the water surrounding the tree.
Equipped with boots, Randall arrived at the site and started to look for the cat. It took about fifteen minutes before he was able to pinpoint his location, but he was definitely relieved to see the cat resting on a stump instead of being higher up the tree. The photo he was given by the bird-watcher didn’t really show the height of his location, but what mattered is that he finally found him and wasn’t planning on giving up now.
“I have to admit that I was very relieved to learn that I would not need to climb a tree here. If the cat had been high in a tree, I’m not sure how I would have handled it, but I’m sure I would have tried everything I could imagine,” he recalls.
Randall also grabbed a stick when he approached the cat, not only for balance purposes but also to scare away any snake or alligator that might be lurking around. He also took a pet carrier with him to rescue the cat and bring him to dry ground.
The man noticed that the cat was crying with more intensity than before as he got closer to him, and wasn’t sure how the cat would respond to his rescue attempt.
Luckily, after a couple of tries and some cat food, the cat then peacefully stepped into the carrier and was finally rescued.
Randall and his wife then drove the cat to CARA’s House where he was medically checked. The cat was completely healthy and was microchipped. He also named the cat “Chomper” because of his rather striking fangs. Luckily, Chomper’s personality is much more friendly.
It took a few days before the microchip company could respond to CARA, but more details about this cat and his owner finally arrived. The cat, who has been adopted from a shelter in Atlanta, was known as Artemis. Unfortunately, all attempts to contact the owner failed. After three weeks of trying, rescuers assumed that the cat was abandoned by his owner in the first place.
Chomper is now being transferred to Whiskers Animal Benevolent League where he will be given shelter and put up for adoption to find his loving forever home.
A big thumbs up to Randall and his wife Judy for this brave rescue!
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