Rescuers from Dubai Civil Defense check were Choochoo is perched. CLEOFE MACEDA

A pet cat in Dubai sparked an emergency rescue effort after getting stuck up a tall palm tree in a residential neighbourhood in Downtown Dubai. The owner, Cleofe Maceda, took to social media to share the ordeal. “Just wanted to say big thanks to Dubai Civil Defence and Dubai Police for quickly responding to our emergency call involving our cat, Choochoo, last night. It’s great to see them jump on all sorts of emergencies, no matter how large or small, even at a time when a pandemic is threatening to overwhelm government services,” Maceda said on Wednesday (April 29). Speaking to Expatmedia.net, the Filipina said that the rare kind of rescue took about an hour after her pet “decided to go climbing in the dead of night and got himself stuck up in a neighborhood palm tree” for around three hours. “We found him wailing and clinging for dear life onto the fronds, roughly 10 to 12 meters in the air at quarter past 9 pm. Thankfully, Civil Defence promptly answered our emergency call and Dubai Police popped by as well,” she said. Maceda said the rescue of the frantic feline hit a momentary snag because there was no heavy rescue machinery or tall ladder that could be brought into the enclosed community. Cat ‘clinging to dear life’ from Dubai palm tree rescued “We ended up rousing our neighbour on the 8th floor from their Suhour so we could stick a pole out of their window and give the tree some shaking. Finally, after about an hour of coaxing Choochoo to face his fear, and throwing water at him, the traumatized kitty took the courage to come down,” she said. The cat fortunately landed on a blanket that the rescuers were holding out for it at the base of the tree, Maceda said, adding that Choochoo escaped unharmed. “He’s now afraid to step out of the house. He’s quarantined for an indefinite period,” Maceda quipped, thanking the authorities and her neighbours for helping in the rescue effort. This is not the first time that UAE authorities have responded to emergency rescues involving animals. In February, Abu Dhabi Police shut down six lanes of traffic to rescue a terrified cat stranded in the middle of Sheikh Zayed Road. The rescue took more than three hours and the cat was eventually put in a carrier and taken to the British Veterinary Centre. PIA/Expat Media https://www.expatmedia.net/find-stray-cat-uae/2019/06/
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