Copley Township’s cat on a high slate roof came to a paws-itive end. Fur real.
For the past three days as of Friday, a big fluffy white cat by the name of Shep had perched itself high — very high — atop the steeply pitched slate roof at Walterville Propane’s restored barn off Cleveland-Massillon Road, next to Graves Lumber Co.
To be purrfectly clear, Shep didn’t say how he got up there. What was clear is that he hadn’t figured out a way to get back down on his own, despite the efforts of the building owner and others.
It took a second trip by the Copley Fire Department on Friday to rescue Shep, who balked at its first approach a couple of days ago.
“It went fine,” said firefighter Mike Kamp, a member of the five-person crew that finally rescued the cat about 5 p.m.
The fire department used its ladder truck to reach the animal.
“It was sitting right on the peak,” said Lt. Jeff Varga, who went up the ladder and safely snagged and secured Shep.
“It didn’t give me any problem at all. It was tired,” Varga said.
Because Shep wore a collar that included a phone number and address, the fire department quickly found his owners, who live nearby.
Shep arrived home in style — in an ambulance. The owners told Varga that Shep ran off several days ago and they had searched the neighborhood and called local animal shelters to no avail.
They didn’t know that Shep was getting all sorts of attention from his nearby perch between lightning rods on the slippery barn roof just around the corner from their home.
“He’s really hungry. He doesn’t have any injuries,” said owner Kelly Coughlin. Shep, who is maybe 2 or 3 years old, is a rescue cat that she adopted for her 7-year-old daughter, Xoe (pronounced Zoey.) Their household has three other rescue cats: Kiki, Baka and Elliot.
Her daughter is ecstatic that Shep is home safe and sound, Coughlin said.
Varga said after the first attempt to get the cat off the roof failed, firefighters figured the animal would eventually find its own way down.
Cat lovers didn’t kitten around trying to get the feline to safety. The building owner placed a ladder along the roof to provide a means to help Shep get down. Food was put out to try to entice him down.
Shep at least enjoyed fairly decent weather, if not the view.
Friday was unusually sunny and warm in the low 70s for a Northeast Ohio mid November. Shep’s rescue took place before this weekend’s return to seasonal cold and wind — even snow.
Two people who run small businesses on the 7-acre Walterville Propane property said they were hoping the cat would make it down safely.
“I’d like to see it rescued,” said Randy Gonzales, who runs a small furniture repair shop on the property.”
Frank Kuta, who owns an upholstery repair business, said the cat hadn’t moved much on the roof. He first learned about the cat Thursday, one day after people first saw him.
“It’s puzzling,” Kuta said. “Nobody knows how he got up there.”
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ