Towering tangle for Karma the cat

CAT CAME BACK: Eketahuna mum Damelza Richards holds son Tailyn, 11 months, and her young cat Karma which was rescued after spending three days trapped more than 10m up a tree. PHOTOS/LYNDA FERINGA

Eketahuna firefighters yesterday rescued a young cat - using a jet of water and gravity - that had been trapped for three days near the top of a towering pine tree.

Owner Damelza Richards said her nine-month-old tabby called Karma had on Friday grown more adventurous than usual, wandering to a row of old pines that stood about 300m from the farmhouse she shares with partner Kent Phillips and son Tailyn, 11-months.

The pine tree, right, from near the top of which Karma the tabby cat was rescued yesterday morning.

Karma failed to appear for her Friday night meal, Mrs Richards said, and it wasn't until late Saturday that the couple heard a distant meow and realised something was up - literally.

"It was the first time she'd been out climbing. She usually spends all her time around the house but I hadn't seen her all day Saturday and it wasn't until that night we found her," Mrs Richards said.

The couple tried their best to coax the wayward feline down from her 12m perch during the ensuing two days and nights, but she was forced to endure her lofty tangle until early yesterday morning.

"We were starting to get worried because you could see she was really getting stressed. Last night, she tried to look for a way down but couldn't and then she started eating the tree. I didn't want to leave her up there any longer."

Eketahuna fire chief Max Mayer said the alert had been raised on the weekend about Karma's predicament, and he and the Richards had agreed hunger may force the animal to find its own way back down the tree and home again.

But Karma refused the gamble and when she failed to show for breakfast, a fire crew was scrambled to the Parkville Rd property and a novel rescue executed within 20 minutes.

"The cat was up too high for the 10m extension ladder so we put four guys on a tarp at the bottom and used a jet of water. We didn't quite catch her but she was all right and she just scarpered back to the house."

"It's about the best we could do - I wasn't going to risk someone's life - and the cat seemed all good."

Mrs Richards said her son Tailyn and Karma's mother Narla had each seemed pleased at Karma returning home and the young cat seemed in good health and mostly unfazed by its soaring ordeal.

"She's good - still a little shaken up - but she's eating and drinking and seems fine. It was just a relief to get her down, especially for Tailyn. They're good mates."