Have You Seen This? Ohio man climbs high up trees, rescues cats
by Tim Vandenack ksl · KSL.comMARION, Ohio — Duane Hook rescues cats.
"I help panicked pet owners make a safe plan to get their pets back to the ground — and when needed, I climb," he says on his website, Getmeowtahere.
I came across a video last July of him helping rescue an injured eagle, learning, with a little digging, that helping cats is Hook's main focus, cats stuck high up in trees, more particularly. Because he's known to help animals in distress, though, he was apparently called in to help rescue the raptor.
I was drawn back, took a closer look at videos he posts of his rescues, which get lots of views. Some of his exploits are pretty daring, how he clambers up trees with ropes, gently cajoles the cats and hauls them down, typically in a bag. Hook gets called in to help all around central Ohio, where he's based, and got into rescuing cats, which seem to love to climb trees but aren't always so sure how to get down, as an extension of his love of climbing in trees.
"Cat rescue became another reason to climb trees, and over time it turned into a true labor of love — a way to help animals and the communities who care about them by using my climbing skills to reduce fear, stress and suffering," he writes on his website. He's a pro at climbing trees, so don't try to emulate him if you don't have the training.
In the video posted here, he rescues a cat named Pepper from a tree in Marion, Ohio. I'm not sure how the camera is held or positioned, but the video shows him ascending the tree with the help of rope.
"Oh, you are so scared, aren't you baby?" he says on reaching the cat, a mewing small black cat. "You're OK. You're OK. Let's give you a little food to hold you over."
He gives the cat a snack from a packet, talks to it, pets it, and eventually puts the feline in a black bag so he can go back down the tree. "Cat's in the bag," he says.
On the ground, the young woman who had reached out to Hook holds the hungry critter as it eats more food. The video says the cat was taken in by an animal rescue organization in Marion.
Hook relies on donations and support generated by his videos to cover the costs of his rescue efforts.
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Tim Vandenack
Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.