By Paula Roberts
Heather Hartford holds Lucy after she was rescued, as Vicki Hilton, Morgan Deahl, and MacKenzie Hopkins pat her. (Paula Roberts photo) |
A frisky orange feline named Lucy proved how much mischief she could get into last week when she was reportedly driven up an oak tree by a coyote. The 1-year-old cat climbed over 50 feet up a tree in Damariscotta, Wednesday, Sept. 3.
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Christian “Critter” Bowdoin rappels out of an oak tree with a pink pillowcase (containing Lucy the red-headed kitten) securely in his mouth. (Paula Roberts photo) |
When Dannie Cronk showed up with a ladder to try to get her down, Lucy climbed higher.
By late Thursday, her owner, 17-year-old Maddy Hartford, who had just undergone a round of chemotherapy for Behcet’s disease, was crying her heart out. Behcet’s is a rare autoimmune disease, wherein the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks some of its own healthy cells.
Lucy is extra special to Maddy, as her cousin found her and another kitten in the woods when they were about 3 weeks old. Maddy and her grandmother Vicki Hilton hand raised the kittens, feeding them with bottles until they were able to eat on their own.
The Hartman family’s two other pets, an orange cat named Peanut and an orange dog named Penny Lane, sat at the base of the tree for two days waiting for Lucy to come down.
“Peanut would not budge. I think he was sitting under that tree all night,” Maddy’s mother Heather said. Lucy howled, but would not budge from her perch in the tree.
Neighbors, friends, and family gathered to encourage Lucy to come down, to no avail. After two days in the tree, and no movement from Lucy, the family called the Damariscotta Fire Department and arborist Christian “Critter” Bowdoin for help.
The Damariscotta Fire Department could not get to Lucy with its ladder truck due to power lines and trees. Bowdoin strapped on his climbing gear and scaled the tree. Lucy bolted higher up and out onto a limb to a spot the ladder truck could reach.
As the fire department started to bring in the ladder truck, Bowdoin coaxed the cat closer by shaking a bag of cat food. After a few anxious moments, Lucy moved within reach of Bowdoin, who grabbed the mischievous young cat and stuffed her into a pillowcase.
“The cat’s in the bag,” Maddy’s grandmother Vicki Hilton shouted excitedly, which brought laughter and sighs of relief. Bowdoin, with the pillowcase containing Lucy firmly in his mouth, rappelled down the tree to safety.
Maddy’s mother Heather and grandmother Vicki Hilton, with tears welling up in their eyes, hugged the wild-eyed Lucy once she was on the ground. They were tears of relief and happiness, knowing how much the kitten meant to Maddy.
The family dog Penny Lane, despite the commotion of ladders and firemen, sat or laid down near the base of the tree and stayed there until Lucy was finally rescued. After Lucy was safely in Heather’s arms, Penny Lane came out of the woods, tail a-wagging.
Maddy’s grandfather Walter Hilton said Lucy walked around sideways for awhile, but once she was rehydrated, was purr-fectly fine.
