?Voltage? the cat (top right), named for the sign fixed on his perch?and for the 12,000 volts of electricity passing only inches from his head?waited at least four days for someone to rescue him from a bird?s eye view atop a power pole. Edison?s Troubleman Gordon McNeill (left and bottom right) climbs down the pole with one relieved cat.
By Gary Meyer
He’s tired and hungry, and probably not much in the mood for chit-chat after spending at least four days and nights atop a power pole in Frazier Park.
Nicknamed "Voltage," the male orange and white tabby was spotted sitting on top of the pole between Decator Trail and Irvon Trail in Frazier Park on Sunday, March 23, by Paul Brown, who called 9-1-1, spoke with the fire department, Southern California Edison and Cause-4-Cats & Dogs.
Brown remembers hearing cat meows two days earlier. "My son and I heard meowing, but we didn’t know where it was coming from," he said in an interview on Tuesday, March 25. "You don’t think to look up in the sky for a cat. a cat. But on Sunday we spotted him up there on the pole." Brown said he doesn’t know how long the cat had been on top of the pole.
Russ Robrahn, co-founder of Cause-4-Cats & Dogs, stepped up efforts to get Edison out to the scene, continually calling and getting a work order started.
Sheree Denham emailed The Mountain Enterprise, who asked Rapid Cable to try to help with its bucket truck. Greg Banks went to the scene immediately, when called, to see if he could reach the kitty using Rapid’s bucket truck. But with vehicles blocking close access to the power pole, the bucket could not reach the top where the feline was perched.
Finally, after days of sitting, lying and stretching on top of the pole, "Voltage" was rescued by Edison’s Troubleman Gordon McNeill, who lifted himself half way up in the bucket and climbed the rest of the way to the top.
Voltage" was very cooperative as McNeill stuffed him into his sweatshirt for the bumpy walk down to the bucket.
"He’s lucky he didn’t touch those wires at the edges of the cross-arm," McNeill said, "those carry 12,000 volts."
Russ Robrahn was waiting with a Cause-4-Cats & Dogs pet porter.
"Voltage" will receive a complete checkup and an attempt will be made to locate his people.
Cause-4-Cats & Dogs can be reached at (661) 248-0299.
This is part of the April 04, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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