Rescuing a cat stuck up a tree is the prototypical “good deed” many would associate with police, firemen, boy scouts, and good neighbors of all sorts. Apparently, though, Russian soldiers called upon to rescue a cat from a tree have a decidedly different mindset for approaching the age-old problem.
The video comes by way of YouTube user Funny Video – apropos enough – and it dates from a few months ago. How exactly it’s managed not to have gone viral yet is beyond us: this is some pretty impressive rescue botching.
As you can see, what starts as a simple kitty stuck in a tree quickly devolves into broken windows, bent trees, and a cat that just makes its way even higher up into the branches. All the while, volunteers are shaking the branch, while others wait with an outstretched blanket, should the cat fall.
Then, at about 1:25, the axe comes out.
The cat’s got to come down one way or another. It’s time for the axe.
Apparently, no one considered the height of the tree in relation to the surrounding structures, because no sooner does our helpful soldier take his last whack at the tall tree than it falls directly into a power line.
And that’s when the magic happens.
If there’s anything to be learned from this video, it’s that the Russian army does not play around when it comes to getting cats out of trees. Once you make the call, the cat is coming down, one way or another.
Of course, we kind of knew that was the status quo in Russia already. A year or so ago , another cat got stuck up in a tree somewhere else in Russia. In that situation, the fire department was called. They entered the situation with, well, pretty much the same mindset.
