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'Dead' feline eludes rescuers
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Jessica Ebelhar/Las Vegas Review-Journal
NV Energy linemen Billy Blackford, right, and Kyle Morris try to rescue a reluctant cat Tuesday in North Las Vegas. The calico had been on the power pole for five days. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The cat was dead.
Surely the cat was dead, having been trapped for about five days on the narrow crossbar of a power pole high above a salvage yard in an industrial section of North Las Vegas.
The cat, a furry motionless lump, was dead, and the five grown men sent Tuesday afternoon to rescue it -- including North Las Vegas City Councilman Richard Cherchio -- were glum.
"It's dead!" yelled one of the men, a rugged worker with NV Energy, who was being lifted toward the cat in a bucket truck.
"Well, it's been up there five days!" yelled one of the workers on the ground.
The cat's eyes, seen through a camera's zoom lens, were closed and gummy.
Cherchio had learned of the cat's existence earlier Tuesday afternoon, when he received a call from Gina Greisen, a local animal rights activist.
Could he do anything about a full-grown calico that had been stranded atop a power pole since Friday?
Cherchio, admittedly more of a dog guy, called the city's animal control, which didn't have the proper equipment to rescue a cat from a power pole, he said. So the councilman, who coincidentally is campaigning to keep his Ward 4 council seat, put in a call to Tony Sanchez, senior vice president of government and community strategy for NV Energy.
"Do me a favor," Cherchio told him. "Get someone out here to rescue the cat."
Greisen alerted the media.
Four men and two bucket trucks arrived, along with Cherchio.
A few minutes later, the two men in the bucket were getting closer. They were going to pull down a dead cat. It really was too bad the cat was dead.
"It's alive!" yelled one of the men in the bucket.
The cat was indeed alive, and moving, trying to get away from the men. It did not want to be rescued.
The three men on the ground -- including Cherchio -- began calling to it.
"Here kitty!" called one of them.
"Come on, baby!" Cherchio cooed.
The cat, suddenly spry, began clawing its way down the pole. About halfway it fell, hitting some razor wire atop a concrete wall before leaping into the salvage yard.
The cat ran away. At least it wasn't dead.
"I never saw a cat do that," said Billy Blackford, a journeyman lineman with NV Energy who had been aboard the bucket. "That cat had all kinds of lives left in it."
Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
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Must have been a slow news day!
Doesn't the classic stereotype portray firefighters rescuing the kitty from perilous heights? Silly, silly person, lvbigbear, to ask "And this is news why?" Did you miss today's headline regarding firefighter benefits? It's sadly ironic that these two stories share the same newspaper! Granted, the cat was probably in NLV FD territory and today's spotlight was on Clark County. But NLV has been there too, perhaps not to quite such a heinous degree. $180K-plus on average, even a couple of $400K guys, and they can't fulfill their classic non-emergency community service role of saving poor puss-puss! Perhaps the prospect of a 2% pay cut really does slow response times! Cat's everywhere should be horrified, since it seems government leaders and us sheep (the taxpayers) don't seem to care ... baaaaaa, baaaaaa
lvbigbear...How about it is news because, if you pay attention, the public agency just ignored this request from the public. Meanwhile, the big bad corporation known as NV Energy stepped up.
And this is news, why?
Thanks Duke, at least you got the joke ; )
Hopefully it didn't get cut up hitting the razor wire. But they do say cats have '9 Lives'.
OK, Bugs also said "Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive!"
Pravoke, that's how Bugs Bunny says it.......Maroonssss
We had a cat who stayed high up a tree for 8 days. Even fresh salmon couldn't lure her down. She was in a state of hibernation, I guess. BTW: leftcoast, that's m-o-r-o-n-s. You spell it wrong every time. LOL
Ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree? What a bunch of maroons!
ROTFLMAO!!!