Kitty rescued from 50ft perch

A kitten stranded 50ft up a tall tree in a Shropshire town for three days was back at home today with all nine lives intact after a dramatic rescue.

Kitty the cat came back down to earth without a bump after a tree surgeon rescued her from her lofty perch in Jubilee Park, Whitchurch.

Tony Dodd, from Springhill Tree Management in Whitchurch, was drafted in by Kitty's owners to pluck the marooned animal to safety yesterday afternoon.

He said: "I used a rope and harness to climb the tree and get the cat down. Her owners were very pleased to have her back safely."

It is understood black cat Kitty dashed up the tree on Tuesday while being chased by dogs off their leashes.

Kitty's owner Lloyd Edwards, 16, said today he was relieved to have the poor puss back in one piece.

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The Sir John Talbot School pupil said: "I've only had Kitty since October and she's still just a kitten. We were all worried as we honestly thought there was no way we could get her down because she was so high up. But we had to call out the tree surgeon ourselves and we are paying for it ourselves.

"I'm upset because we rang the RSPCA several times but they said they couldn't do anything."

Helen Coen, RSPCA spokeswoman, said: "Lots of people had been calling us about it but we explained to them that with cats we leave them for 48 hours as most make their own way down when they get hungry.

"We did send an officer out on Thursday afternoon just as the cat was brought down to safety. The cat was safe and well when it was brought down."

She added the RSPCA policy was based on "years of experience" in dealing with similar situations.

She said in some cases cats were known to climb even higher or panic and fall when being rescued from trees.