Huntington Beach : Cat Bids Fronds Farewell, Claws Rescuer’s Hand

Coaxing with tuna failed. So did high-pitched pleas. Animal control officers fared no better.

But “Spot the Wonder Cat,” stuck atop a 65-foot palm tree in Huntington Beach, was rescued on the third day of his ordeal by utility workers. Not, however, without biting and scratching the hand that untreed him.

Rescuing the black tomcat was no easy matter for the Southern California Edison Co. linemen, either.

Neighbors on Venturi Drive watched as line clearance foremen John Brandes and Bill Ross began searching the palm tree about 10 a.m. Wednesday from a bucket truck with a 55-foot reach.

After Spot had eluded their grasp for 15 minutes, Jennifer McClendon, 22, owner of the 18-month-old feline shouted, “If you just try calling ‘Spot’ in the highest voice you can!”

Onlookers laughed as Brandes responded, “Lady, I don’t have a high voice.” They laughed louder when he cried “Spot!” in falsetto.

It was as futile as efforts by her husband, Whit, to lure Spot down with a plate of tuna Tuesday night, he remarked as he snapped pictures of the rescue effort.

Neighbors craned their necks vainly to see the elusive cat. “This is insane,” said neighbor Debby Beadle, gazing through binoculars. “When mine goes outside, she goes on a leash.”

By 10:30 a.m., Brandes and Ross tried trimming branches. After 15 minutes of searching under fronds, Ross finally grabbed Spot, uttering profanities as the frantic cat bit and clawed him.

As the bucket was lowered, Ross tossed the writhing cat about 10 feet to the ground, and it dashed off. McClendon, who was feeding her other two cats, rushed from the house and gave chase, returning minutes later with the errant cat, which scratched her face then fled again.

Rinsing blood from his hands and dabbing at tooth wounds under his beard, Ross said it had been “the first time in a while” that he’d had to rescue a treed cat.

“The trouble with getting this one down is (that) it could hide behind the dead fronds,” he said.

The cost to Edison was about $50, spokesman Ken Bellis said. “We usually don’t deal with animals unless they are caught up in our facilities, but we had tree trimmers in the area,” he said.

Safe at home again, Spot devoured a dish of tuna under his owner’s caresses. “I just don’t think he’s gonna climb a tree like that again,” Jennifer McClendon said. “He’s the kind of cat who learns.”