Union worker climbs tree to rescue cat during Rhode Island storm
neighbors say police and fire could not respond, social networks route help faster than hotlines
Images
cat rescued from tree
newsweek.com
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Pixie the cat spent three days about 50 feet up a tree during a severe Rhode Island winter storm, while neighbors improvised rescue attempts and local services told them they could not come. The episode, posted to TikTok by Heather (@heatherlynntattoos) and reported by Newsweek, ended when two members of Iron Workers Local 37 arrived after seeing pleas on Facebook and Nextdoor.
Newsweek’s account describes winds of up to 60 mph and roughly three feet of snow as Pixie stayed near the treetop, meowing but refusing to climb down. Neighbors tried to coax her by stacking tables and chairs, but without a ladder they could not reach her. Heather said she contacted police, fire departments and animal control; because of the storm’s severity, responders were unavailable. The workaround was not a formal escalation path but a broadcast: posts to local social networks that reached people with the relevant skills and risk tolerance.
The rescue itself looked more like a jobsite than an emergency call-out. One of the union members, Matt, climbed the tree, tucked Pixie inside his sweatshirt to warm her, and then accepted a backpack tossed up by another neighbor so he could descend with both hands free. The crowd supplied what the system did not: equipment, coordination and a willingness to absorb liability. In the video, the owner’s relief is visible as Pixie is handed back at ground level.
Newsweek adds the caveat that not all “cat in a tree” situations should be handled by amateurs. Veterinarians cited by the outlet recommend low-stress coaxing first and professional help—arborists, animal control, or emergency responders—if distress persists or weather worsens. The complication is that in a genuine storm, the same conditions that make the animal’s situation urgent also degrade the capacity of official responders. The queue fills with higher-priority incidents, and the marginal case is pushed to whoever is willing to take it on.
After the rescue, Heather said she left a care package for the neighbor and later learned Pixie was “doing so much better,” sleeping and settling back in at home. The clip drew hundreds of thousands of views and a familiar comment thread: praise for the rescuer, jokes about cats learning nothing, and a brief reminder that competence sometimes arrives in work boots rather than uniforms.
Pixie came down the same way she went up—by relying on someone else’s grip strength—and the fire department never needed to leave the station.