Cat will be shot if it doesn't climb down

Napier fire crew return empty-handed after trying to bring down the feline from the tree. Picture / Hawke's Bay Today

A cat trapped in a tree in Napier for the past week refuses to be rescued.

But if it doesn't return to earth soon, it will be shot.

Neither three fire engines and eight firefighters armed with extension ladders nor two animal control officers in a cherry-picker managed to coax the cat out of a two-storey-high phoenix palm on Tuesday.

Napier City Council animal control officers have placed a death sentence by shooting on the malnourished moggy if it can't be coaxed down by Friday.

The owner of the tree in which the cat has taken up residence said it was not just annoying her.

"It's annoying everyone in the district," she said.

Residents noticed the howling cat early last week among the fronds.

Mark Hodgson, 69, said he could hear its cries from his house about 100m away. He and another neighbour tried to erect a gangplank from the palm to a lower tree for the cat to use as an escape route, but it sat firm.

"It must be eating the birds up there and just doesn't want to come down," Mr Hodgson said.

- NZPA