There is a small rural town, somewhat northeast to the city of Niagara Falls,
NY. One evening, a resident of the town called the local volunteer fire
department to request assistance in removing her cat from a tree. Since this
was a "questionable" call, the fire control dispatcher called the fire chief at
home to ask if he wanted to respond. The chief said sure, call out the
department, since it was early evening and it shouldn't be a problem for the
volunteers to respond.

The fire department responded with a rescue truck which had an extension
ladder. The tree, however, was too tall and willowy to support the weight of
the extension ladder. Rather than send men back to the fire hall to bring the
aerial ladder truck, one of the firefighters suggested an alternate course of
action. Two of the firefighters supported the ladder while a third climbed high
enough to tie a rope around the tree at about half its height.

The other end of the rope was tied to a trailer hitch on a pickup truck, with
the truck slowly driven forward, forcing the tree to bend over. One firefighter
was poised to grab the cat as soon as it was within his reach.

The knot securing the rope to the trailer hitch slipped free.

The cat was last seen airborne heading south toward the city of Niagara Falls.
(and was never seen again)