Rescue mission launched in Temple Park after cat is stuck in a tree for 10 hours 'surrounded by crows'

Firefighters at South Shields Community Fire Station received reports that a member of the public was attempting to climb a tree in to rescue the cat at around 4pm on Friday, January 17.

The cat, which has been described as having a “mottled” coat, was first spotted in the tree at around 9am, but Bonita Nesbitt, of Temple Memorial Park Volunteer Rangers believes it was up there even earlier.

Bonita heard the crows making a “commotion” when she went out at 7am and now believes they were surrounding the cat.

“I took a video at about 7am of the crows in the tree, they were making loads of noise, it was all kicking off, but I didn’t know that the cat must have been up there then,” she said.

“Crows are extremely intelligent birds, they gather together to find out what killed their members. They were out to murder it.”

Later in the day, resident Matty Ross alerted the fire brigade after he spotted the cat in the tree while out walking his dog in the park.

Bonita continued: “He thought it wasn’t coming down because the dog was there so he took the dog home but when he came back it was still there, so he thought it definitely needs help and he organised the rescue.

“It was first spotted at 9am and was still up there at teatime.”

Firefighters arriving on the scene had to cut a branch down to get to the cat, which then ran off.

A spokesperson for Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service commented: “A crew from South Shields Community Fire Station was called out at 4.08pm on Friday afternoon to Temple Memorial Park, after reports that a member of the public was trying to climb a tree to rescue a cat who was stuck. They rescued the cat and left the scene at 4.54pm.”

It is not known who the cat belongs to, but Bonita is hopeful it has found its way home.