Cat makes itself at home in maple tree

SUPERIOR - Three months ago Tim and Lonna Hayes found an unexpected guest at their Superior home – a cat had taken up residence in a large maple tree. The first time Tim placed a ladder on the tree and went up to approach the cat, it skittishly ran as high up as it could. 

Neighbors told the Hayes’ that if they simply left the cat in the tree it would eventually come down – but it didn’t. A week went by and the cat was making itself at home. 

“We watched a couple nights until midnight and it didn’t come down,” Lonna said. “I got worried about it and I said ‘we have to do something about this cat, it’s not going to die on my watch’ – so we started feeding it.” 

Eventually, the cat  grew accustomed to Tim placing food and water in the crotch of the tree every morning and would climb lower and lower as he approaches with the meal – but it still didn’t come down. 

“It just stayed right there in the crotch of the tree,” Tim said. 

The days and weeks continued to add up and turn into months until the summer heat finally prompted Tim to try to attempt to bring the cat down from its maple home. 

“I grabbed it and we got it down,” Tim said. “It was a fight and it dug in, I had on an old coat and it was digging in but I finally got it loose.” 

When Tim got the cat down from the tree he released his grip and he said “faster than you can see” it was right back in the tree. 

“I also tried one day to put the food at the bottom of the tree,” Tim said. “But it just sat there and stared at it and wouldn’t come down.”  

Quickly, the cat turned into a part of the Hayes family. Lonna calls it “our little angel” and they even named the cat Maple III because it lives in the third maple tree on the street.

With Maple III residing in a tree for such a long period of time, Lonna began to search online to see if other cats had resided in trees for a similar length of time but the longest she could find was two weeks. 

“I’ve never come across one any longer,” Lonna said. “That’s usually just a cat that goes up in a tree and then the fire department takes it down and it’s done. Nothing like this. We thought maybe that at one time it was a house cat because they say that if a house cat gets outside they don’t know much about trees and can get up but it can’t get down.”

The summer heat is a growing concern for Tim and Lonna and they have decided that for its own good it is time for Maple III to relocate. 

Lonna attempted to call the Humane Society to see about taking the cat in but has not had her calls answered, She said this worries her because getting the Maple III down from the tree and placing it in a carrying case “will be very traumatic for it.” 

“We would love to keep him but we can’t,” Lonna said. “I’m afraid to take him in because I think they would put it to sleep – under the circumstances what do you do with a cat that wants to live in a tree.” 

Lonna added that they have had people come by the house to look at the cat and talk about it – some even were curious if it was their missing cat – but no one is willing to take Maple III in. 

“If someone wants it I will gladly go up there and bring it down,” Tim said. “The thing is I think it has had contact with humans before because it will get friendly, but it is pretty leery of strangers.” 

If anyone is interested in adopting Maple III they can contact Tim and Lonna at 529-5572.

“We’ll give it a couple weeks or something like that,” Lonna said. “But then we have to take it down.” 

“There isn’t a lot of social life up there for it,” Tim added.