AUBURN — A cat stuck on the roof of a home was rescued with the assistance of — you guessed it — a fire department.
In the end, the cat was rescued with a rope, a pet carrier, some food and a little help from the Auburn Fire Department.
The Finger Lakes SPCA had received several calls reporting a cat stuck on an icy roof at 50 Seymour St. in Auburn, according to the SPCA Executive Director Nick Lapresi. People said the cat had been stuck for a couple of days.
When Lapresi arrived at the home, he said he saw the cat hanging out by the chimney.
“Here kitty, kitty,” Lapresi recalled saying, trying to coax the cat forward. That’s when Lapresi noticed the tree branch that hung just over the roof of the home.
Lapresi and another SPCA worker decided to use cat food to try to get the cat down.
But how were they going to get it up there?
The Auburn Fire Department arrived with a rope that they used to toss over a branch. They tied the rope to a cat carrier holding something Junior did not have for a few days: food.
They lifted it until it was level with the roof.
Lapresi said they waited around for a while on Feb. 16, but Junior didn’t get into the carrier, although he seemed interested.
The next day, neighbors called the shelter again, saying the cat had finally taken the bait. He was sitting inside the carrier when an employee came to get him.
SPCA Humane Law Enforcement Officer returned to the scene and lowered the carrier.
“We got him down to ground level and he hopped right onto [the officer’s] shoulder,” Lapresi said. “And now he’s doing awesome.”
They nicknamed the cat Roofus.
A woman who discovered their Facebook post of his rescue called and said the cat was her’s. Its real name is Junior.
The woman said he’d been missing for a week, according to Lapresi. Now the shelter is planning to reunite the two on Friday.
The SPCA is having him neutered, vaccinated and chipped. Just in case Junior decides to go on another little adventure.
“We have a very happy ending to the story,” Lapresi said.
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