Feline foolish: Firefighters and tree surgeon retrieve cat from same tree twice in a weekend

A mischievous cat attracted the services of two fire engines, the RSPCA and a tree surgeon after it got stuck up the same tree twice in one weekend.

The feline - which has been nicknamed Coningham after the road in Shepherd’s Bush that it was twice found on - is also thought to have been attended by the police according to residents.

The saga started on Friday morning when London Fire Brigade were called to an address on the street to reports of a cat up a tree - which the RSPCA also attended - when residents said they used a hose to try and get it down.

But when this had the opposite effect - sending the cat further up the tree - the services of a tree surgeon were called.

But after successfully getting the cat down and spending the night at a resident’s house who fed the hungry cat before releasing it on Saturday evening, it thanked their efforts by returning to the same tree where it spent the night mewing.

Residents were today said to be trying to identify the cat’s owner after one woman mistakenly thought it was hers.

One resident said: “It turned out it wasn’t her cat but she took it in for the night, it was very very hungry apparently. She let it go on Saturday at about 8pm. At that point it found its way up the same tree again and kept residents awake at night with its mewing.”

On Sunday the fire brigade was called once again when they returned with a fire engine and aerial platform and successfully rescued the cat.

A Met Police spokeswoman said the police were not called but it might have been attended by patrolling officers.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “If there is a cat up a tree, or an animal stuck anywhere, the first port of call should always be the RSPCA, not the emergency services as was the case in these incidents.

“If they can’t get them down then they will ask us to attend but we’d ask pet owners to keep a close eye on their animals in a bid to avoid some of these situations happening. When firefighters are out rescuing animals, they’re not available to attend real emergencies.”

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We received calls on Friday about a cat stuck in a tree. We understand the owner of the cat is still unknown, and prepared to attend after the specific time-frame we allow, to give the cat time to come down of his own accord, as can often be the case. Whilst we maintained contact with the caller, an unknown person arranged for the cat to be rescued.