A stray cat that spent almost a week stranded at the top of an old pagoda in Chiang Mai’s Chang Phueak area got down without help on the evening of Nov 12, when rescuers finally climbed up, and left one of them with a bitten palm and a trip to hospital.
Residents near the pagoda, close to the Chang Phueak bus terminal in Mueang district, had called Chiang Mai Special Task Rescue about the black-and-white cat, which was perched more than 10 metres up. Nobody knew how to get it down. The pagoda is steep, and as a protected ancient monument it isn’t something you simply start climbing. The cat, meanwhile, cried out whenever it saw people.
When rescuers arrived they found it weak after days without food or water, in sun and rain. A bamboo ladder leaned against the pagoda failed to coax it down. The site is hemmed in by buildings, so a cherry picker couldn’t get close, and a drone was out because the area is a restricted flight zone.
Residents said the cat is a longtime local stray that had climbed the pagoda before, though never this high, and always made its own way down. They couldn’t say whether a dog chased it up or it simply didn’t judge the height. Either way, they asked rescuers to find a way, because they felt sorry for it.
On the evening of Nov 12 the team went back, set a ladder and sent an officer up to carry the cat down after a risk assessment. The cat panicked, bit him on the palm, jumped from the pagoda and ran off. He went to hospital for treatment and vaccinations.
The rescue team’s Facebook page called it a mission closed “with wounds and an experience nobody expected”, adding that whether the one in trouble is a person or an animal, they will help with everything they have. The cat has not been seen since.
