Nine Lives: Meet the man who rescues Columbus cats from trees
Say “cat stuck in a tree,” and chances are, most of us will pull up a visual image of a little old lady in tears, calling the fire department.
It’s not like that at all, though.
Duane Hook (aka Getmeowtahere Treetop Cat Rescue) is a tree climber by passion, and he combines that passion with a love for animals to provide cat rescue in his free time — not just any cat rescue, but cat-stuck-in-a-tree rescue. His arborist’s climbing gear and careful approach to the task make him a far cry from the storybook firefighter on a ladder.
Hook first discovered this opportunity at a Tree Climbers Rendezvous conference. An arborist in the Pacific Northwest had started a website, catinatreerescue.com, to match cat owners with tree climbers interested in animal rescue. Hook jumped at the idea. “It was another chance to climb more trees,” he recalled. And since Beggar’s Night 2010, he’s been rescuing cats and reassuring owners.
So you think cats stuck in trees are a rare occurrence? Hardly. Hook received more than 380 calls in 2024. But he didn’t rescue 380 cats—it was closer to 75. Rescue is a last resort. Over the past 15 years, he’s learned what works and what doesn’t work for a frightened cat, and he shares that knowledge with the owners.
“I do a lot more counseling of humans than I do climbing after cats,” he said. “If I can talk the humans into following [a specific] course of action, about 70% of these cats will climb down on their own within the first 48 hours. So I have this whole list of things to do and not to do. I’ve learned, over the years, to not just go chase after a cat that’s been in a tree for a few days.”
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A crucial step is understanding the cat itself during those initial conversations with the humans. “I always ask a lot of questions about the cat and what its demeanor is,” Hook explained. “I ask, ‘Can you pick this cat up? Can your family or your friends pick this cat up?’”
“All cats are psychos,” he continued, laughing. “They’re all little psychos in their own ways, so I try to figure out what kind of psycho I’m dealing with. That will change my approach a lot. Some of these cats are, you know, precious little babies, and some of them are homicidal maniacs. A lot of times they’re just so overcome with fear that they think of me as another threat. Sometimes there’s no overcoming that, and I have to use more drastic tactics like a snare pole.”
And that fear is real. Cats climb into precarious positions primarily to escape being chased. “A cat slips out the door, gets chased by a dog, runs up a tree, and now it doesn’t know what to do with itself,” Hook said. Besides dogs, the other primary culprits are wildlife (like coyotes and raccoons), and young boys. “Several times I’ve been told ‘My cat was in the yard, and this troop of young boys came by throwing rocks and chasing the cat, and that’s how the cat got up the tree.’”
So now there’s a terrified, probably confused, cat in a tree, higher up than it meant to climb—and that’s just the beginning of the challenge. The personality of the cat factors in, as do the age and condition of the tree. Weather can play a huge role. And, Hook noted, it’s not very convenient to live on a tree limb, so after a couple of days, most of these cats are severely thirsty, hungry, and sleep-deprived.
“I never know how it’s going to play out, if I’m going to be successful or not,” he said. “And that’s a big commitment. It’s not like you just climb up there, grab the cat, and it’s done so easily every time. I’ve climbed to 110 feet. It can take hours. There are a lot of factors that make it an interesting problem to solve.”
“Everything’s going to be threatening at that point,” he noted. “But sometimes, it doesn’t even matter. They’re so happy to see me that they just climb onto me. When they start making biscuits on my leg, you know, that’s the best. That’s the best.”
Hook is careful to always get property owners’ permission before climbing, and he never uses spikes or equipment that could permanently damage a living tree. He uses the latest arborist rope access techniques, which satisfies his love for climbing while he’s helping others.
Hook works primarily in Central Ohio, but he will travel further when he’s needed. He’s rescued cats in the Ohio River area, and even a cat in Marion, Indiana. “These poor folks had a cat named Spidey that had been in a tree for five days,” he recalled. “And, yeah, they were crying. They’d already called the fire department; they’d called all their local tree services. No one had a ladder tall enough.” So off to Indiana he went, successfully rescuing a very grateful Spidey.
Hook may do more counseling than rescuing, but he doesn’t charge a fee when the time comes to take action. “It really enriches my life to be able to do this,” he explained. I would never turn anyone away. I’ve rescued cats in Muirfield and on the Hilltop and in the Bottoms. The people that I meet love their pets—whatever resources they have doesn’t matter. They still love their animals, and they’re part of their family.
“But some of the cats, some of the cats are just wild,” he admitted, laughing. “You never know what you’re going to get into with these cats.”
Hook also volunteers with the Ohio Wildlife Center, which rescues and rehabilitates thousands of animals a year, and the Glen Helen Raptor center. He works on their rescue teams, re-nesting hawks and owls, and helps other native wildlife like orphaned squirrels, using his tree climbing skills.
Reuniting cats and their humans is special to him, though. “I do this to reduce suffering. This animal is suffering; the people who love their pet, they’re suffering. It’s a silly skill that I have to climb trees, but it’s the skill that I have. And if I can help reduce suffering in the world, that’s what I’m going to do.”
You can check this story and others in the April issue of (614) Magazine below:
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