For five days and four nights, Whiskers the cat was stranded 40 feet up in a tree surrounded by jagged rocks and overlooking a steep embankment. Pamela and Kenneth Fisher in Martinsburg first tried using food to lure Whiskers down late last week, but without success. Then firefighters tried to reach the cat with a ladder, but couldn't. They tried using water to coax the cat down, but that just sent Whiskers higher.
Frustrated and concerned by the panicked feline's desperate cries, Pamela Fisher called the local humane society, animal control officers and several veterinarians' offices, but nobody was either willing or able to help.
Then along came Jim Cosner, a 41-year-old Hedgesville man and a third-generation tree climber.
With a rope, harness and spiked boots, Cosner was up and down the tree with the cat in hand in less than five minutes Monday night.
"The cat was really calm," Cosner said Tuesday. "It was ready to come down, I think."
Cosner, whose grandfather was a timber cutter and his father a tree climber, is an employee of Guardian Fiberglass who works part time trimming trees. Rescuing stranded cats is just something he does on occasion.
Pamela Fisher said Whiskers spent much of Monday night and Tuesday catching up on eating and sleeping, but appeared no worse for the wear.
"He's an angel," Pamela Fisher said of Cosner. "A very big angel".
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