NEWPORT BEACH : When a Feline Needs a Friend

Who says police don’t rescue cats from trees anymore?

After food failed to coax down a meowing gray tomcat that had been stuck since Friday in the high branches of Virginia Soth’s liquidambar tree, the Balboa Island resident decided to call in someone to help.

So Michelle Lefay, an animal control officer in the Police Department, stood on tiptoe Monday atop a portable bench to reach the cat. After a little gentle persuasion, it came down close enough for Lefay to grab it.

“She grabbed his rear, but he hung on for dear life,” Soth said. “It was a tug-of-war, you might say, and she won.”

Although she and her family wanted the cat rescued because it seemed unable to climb down on its own and just sat sadly in the tree, they were sad when the cat finally was caged and taken off.

“He was meowing and screaming,” Soth said. “We all kind of shed a few tears because we suspect his future might not be too good.”

Although the shorthair cat, designated 90-15584 in police records, is no longer free, it hasn’t reached Death Row either. The cat will be held for at least five days for its owner to claim him, said Valerie Guzowski, a worker at Newport Harbor Animal Hospital, which contracts as the city’s shelter.

After that, the cat loses its number, receives a name from shelter staffers and goes up for adoption. The shelter has no set policy on how long it keeps a stray pet, Guzowski said. It depends on the cat’s health and how crowded the shelter becomes, she said.