Tredegar cat rescued after days stuck up tree

A cat has been rescued after days stuck up a tree - with help from a scaffolding company and a tree surgeon.

The cat, thought to be a missing female called Cookie, was spotted up a tree in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, on Saturday.

After the fire service tried to get it down on Sunday without success, crews appealed for help and a local firm built a structure around the tree to try to get the cat down.

A tree surgeon managed to get the cat into a bag and bring it down.

Scaffolding company director Paul Ratledge said his firm had got involved after being contacted by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Scaffolders work to try to get the cat out of the tree

He told BBC Wales: "We had a phone call from the local fire service.

"They'd tried with cherry pickers, they'd had a tree surgeon but they couldn't get it."

The firm agreed to help and constructed scaffolding around the tree, near the Rhyd Hall pub on The Rhyd.

But despite their best efforts to tempt it out of hiding, Cookie proved hard to help.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Ratledge said: "We've been there this morning, taking food to it.

"We've set up scaffolding boards on angles now so the cat will be able to get down by itself.

"We got right by it but it went up higher again. It was crying a bit."

Leanne Skinner, who had been co-ordinating efforts to try to get Cookie down, said on Facebook the scaffolding team had been "amazing".

She said Cookie had managed to get to the top tier of the scaffolding by itself but "couldn't work her way down".