When seeing a cat in trouble, we sometimes lose sense of what’s safe in making the rescue. Kind hearts would do well to remember safety when helping kitty cats. A grandmother in China learned this the hard way after receiving scrutiny for her chosen method of rescuing her cat from peril.
The incident was caught on camera as alarmed bystanders watched the dangerous rescue unfold.
Looking over the edge of her apartment balcony in Nanchong, Ms. Tang spotted her cat stuck on the ledge of the balcony a floor below. Her first inclination wasn’t calling responders for help or stepping downstairs to alert her neighbor. Instead, she and her seven-year-old grandson came up with a solution.
She harnessed Hao Hao with rope and put him over the railing of her own balcony while she and the boy’s uncle held onto the rope. Slowly, she lowered him one floor to the balcony below.
Horrified witnesses cried out from the street below as they watched the boy dangle in the air by only the rope and his grandmother’s strength.
Reaching the cat, Hao Hao balanced on the slim rail and tried to put the scared cat in a bag. The cat had other ideas though, resisting the boy’s attempts.
He finally wrangled what appears to be an orange tabby into the bag and his grandmother began hoisting him up. Now, her precious grandson and cherished cat dangled over four stories above the ground. But Tang and Hao Hao’s uncle pulled the boy and cat to safety on their right side of the balcony enclosure.
The plan went right, but what if it had gone wrong…
Sometimes It Takes A Minute To See Our Errors
The bystander who captured the terrifying footage posted the video to social media, which led to comment after comment criticizing the grandmother. From there, Chinese media aired the clip, and now thousands of people around the world have seen the dangerous rescue. A staff member at the residential complex told Beijing News the boy was unharmed and Tang had been addressed about the risky operation.
Regarding the incident, she told Red Star News she never felt danger for her grandson. She’d felt nothing but confident in her actions. She did admit seeing the video brought about belated fear for the boy. Tang realized she’d made a mistake and not approached her cat’s rescue in the right way. She said she didn’t call fire rescue because she felt rescuing her cat was a “trivial” matter best handled herself.
Perhaps, but cat lovers need to remember safety for cats and people is paramount.
If you find your cat in a situation that could risk harm to you or your fur baby, call local authorities. Not only are first responders trained to save human lives, but they have an arsenal of tools to help folks rescue their furry family members when they get themselves into predicaments.
H/T: TodayOnline.com
Feature Image: Bunlida Yos/YouTube