Have you ever met a cat who pleads for your help to get them out of a precarious predicament only to have said feline rescue themselves and look at you like you’re crazy for helping? If you’re a cat parent, then of course you have. Cats love to play jokes on humans, and one Singapore street cat got the humans of one district good.
Perched high above Jalan Besar’s Petain Road on the roof of the Petain Court apartment complex, a tuxedo cat looked down upon the city. After the cat sat on the roof for seven days, citizens began to worry the kitty was stuck. And then, they began to plan how to liberate the cat from the roof, but any ideas proved elusive or dangerous. While the humans were planning, the cat had his own plan to get down. And he still hasn’t shared how he did it!
Spotted on the Roof
The roof drama began when Janice Lim noticed the cat atop the Petain Court complex. And there he remained for seven days. As a feeder and caregiver of community cats, she was immediately worried about the tuxedo and posted about the situation on a local Singapore Community Cats group on Facebook.
Janice shared that her initial calls to officials for help resulted in a run around that essentially ended with everyone telling her to wait; the cat would come down. But this wasn’t acceptable to Janice. A week of the cat being stuck on the roof potentially meant the poor thing didn’t have access to food and water.
On day eight, Janice continued the crusade and found help from Singapore’s National Parks division.
“Update on Day 8 of cat stuck on roof: Npark sent 2 very committed, brave and kind contractors – Faris and Eddy down to help this cat.”
The Npark employees placed a spring trap with food on one portion of the roof, away from where the cat was hanging out. But it was the closest they could safely get. With the trap placed and CCTV to monitor it, they just had to wait for the food to attract the cat.
No Change on Day Nine
Unfortunately, the day nine update wasn’t a celebratory one. The trap was too far away, and the cat couldn’t reach it, “so no food and no rescue.”
For the next week, volunteers, SPCA Singapore officers, and Npark employees tried everything they could to assist the cat. More traps were placed, a drone was called out to search for better access, and even a boom truck came down to the building. The boom, however, was a busted idea as the skittish cat wanted nothing to do with the loud noise the machinery made.
Onsight to watch the rescue attempts, Mothership spoke with SPCA officers and learned the complexities of the situation made rescue attempts dangerous for both humans and the cat. The SPCA also explained such rescues involve “multiple stakeholders” and offered their gratitude to everyone involved.
Yet still, the cat remained on the roof.
Day Sixteen Delight & Self-Rescue
On day sixteen came the update everyone was hoping to hear.
“GREAT NEWS that everyone have been waiting for! Cat is no longer on roof! Now safe and sound on ground although look so much skinnier.”
But here’s something interesting…the well-meaning humans didn’t rescue the cat. Somehow, the clever tux saved himself.
Janice shared, “You may have questions on how the cat was rescued but I have insufficient information to provide a responsible conclusion.”
The cat isn’t saying how he got down either, leaving the moment a mystery. All jokes aside, the incident revealed a need for better support for community cats, for those in Singapore and worldwide.
“We can do better as a country towards helping animals in distress and I will privately write to the relevant departments on areas of improvements based on my ordeal in reaching out to seek help for the cat stuck on roof,” Janice wrote. “We can all learn and progress from this experience so that future animals in distress can get efficient and effective help they need, without people going through social media as a resort.”
Janice is right. Feral and community cats need more support worldwide. To help cats get the care they deserve in your area, get involved with your local cat groups and become part of the solution.
H/T: www.mothership.sg
Feature Image: Janice Lim/Facebook