Cat stuck in Barnsley tree for six days rescued

A cat which was stuck up a tree for six days in Barnsley has been rescued.

Earlier efforts by the fire brigade, the RSPCA and a tree surgeon all failed to get Millie down. She was chased up the 40ft (12m) tree by another cat at the weekend. Scaffolding was not tall enough to reach her.

Eventually scaffolder Dean Sedgwick climbed up the tree and grabbed the pet. But Millie did not welcome her rescuer and fought all the way down, even trying to climb back up the tree.

Millie's owner, Simon Marsh, said he was "over the moon" to have the cat back.

He embraced Mr Sedgwick when he too returned to firm ground.

Millie left her mark on 41-year-old rescuer Dean Sedgwick

In reference to earlier attempts to rescue Millie, Mr Sedgwick joked: "tree surgeons know nothing!"

"As I went to grab her she just moved that little bit more, the branches were getting more narrow, but in the end I just made a grab and got her - she put up a fight."

Mr Sedgwick added: "When I got up in the morning I didn't think I would be doing that."

His assistant, Scott, got the worst of Millie's attempts to remain in the tree and could be heard shouting with pain as she clawed him.

The ground around the tree was too uneven for the fire brigade's equipment to be used safely and efforts to force Millie down by squirting water at her sent her further up the tree.

The rescue was made more impressive when 41-year-old Mr Sedgwick revealed he had not climbed a tree since he was 16.