Staff Reports
Columbus firefighters rescued two animals who found themselves in precarious circumstances, dubbing the efforts as part of a tongue-in-cheek “CFD Animal Rescue Week.”
The first animal rescue occurred Monday, just after 8 p.m. on the city’s west side, after a resident in the Tipton Lakes neighborhood discovered a beaver that had appeared to have fallen into a lake spillway drain, said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesman.
When firefighters arrived in the area of Heron Drive and Goeller Road, they found what they described as a juvenile beaver moving about the dry drain structure, Wilson said. As firefighters assessed the beaver’s condition, they concluded that the beaver did not appear to be injured or in any distress. The problem was that the beaver had managed to enter the drain, which was approximately 6 feet high, and would have only been able to self-rescue at a time when the water level within the drain would have risen to a point that would have allowed the animal to access the top of the drain.
Firefighters entered the drain with a small box and managed to safely remove the beaver, who then waddled away no worse for wear. The rescue took approximately 15 minutes.
The second rescue occurred Tuesday at approximately 8:25 a.m. Firefighters were called to Central Middle School, 725 Seventh St., after school officials noticed a cat clinging to lattice approximately 2 feet from the top of the schools roof, Wilson said.
Firefighters estimated that the cat was approximately 40 feet above the ground after it had appeared to have climbed up the lattice on the exterior wall of the school, obviously experimenting with one of its nine lives, or so the ‘tale’ goes.
Identifying that the cat was close to the building’s roof, firefighters made access to the roof and were able to view the cat from above, Wilson said.
The cat appeared uninjured and was clinging tightly to the vine covered lattice, Wilson said.
Firefighters devised a plan for rescue which included fall protection for the cat. Crews at the ground level utilized a large salvage tarp to be used in the event that the cat would happen to fall during the rescue attempt. Once the tarp was secured, Columbus firefighters and a Columbus Police Department school resource officer, using fall protection belts for their own safety, donned gloves and prepared to grab the cat. A single successful grab and the very anxious cat was successfully in the hands of Columbus firefighters, Wilson said. The rescue of the cat took approximately 19 minutes.
