TWO Swan Hill police officers have helped give an injured cat another life after coming to its rescue in a tree.
The cat was located in a tree behind the fence of Swan Hill resident Jim Willox’s property on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Willox was walking around his yard when he heard meowing but couldn’t figure out where the sound was coming from.
“We (Jim and his neighbour Rosa Fazzalori) were looking for this cat,” he said.
“We were looking over the fence and out the back and we happened to look up this tree and right up the top there was this cat.”
The 90-year-old was going to climb the ladder to save the cat himself, but Sergeant Liam Tinkler and First Constable Kris Blackmore were called in to complete the job.
“This cat was hanging upside down by one leg, I think it was the back leg,” Mr Willox said.
“They’ve done a great job, especially Kris who was the one who got up the tree and got the cat.
“These are the little things they do sometimes that they don’t get any recognition for. Things like that sometimes go unnoticed.”
First-Const Blackmore told The Guardian the cat’s leg was caught in the fork of the tree.
“It was definitely broke,” he said.
“I climbed up and got the cat out and it was less than impressed to be going to the vet (Swan Hill Veterinary Clinic) with us.”
But First-Const Blackmore wasn’t left unscathed from the incident, receiving a few scratches, while Sgt Tinkler assisted for moral support.
“We left it with the vet but it didn’t have a collar on so we couldn’t identify the owner,” First-Const Blackmore said.
He said the cat remained at the clinic where it would be x-rayed and the vets would attempt to locate a microchip to contact the owners.
