How many people does it take to save a cat from a tree?

An adventurous little kitten somehow found itself stuck in a tree in Queenstown, and despite the best efforts of many well-intentioned humans, resolutely evaded attempts at its rescue for over seven hours on Mar. 21.

The list of organisations engaged to assist included: two passers-by, an Animal & Veterinary Service team, three Pest-Pro management teams, as well as a Royal Animal Rescue team.

A hapless kitten

A passer-by, who goes by the username Alicia De Choco, posted about the stuck kitten on the Lost and found pets in Singapore Facebook group.

At around 6pm on Thursday, she shared photos of the hapless kitten with a call for help.

It was found stuck on a tree near Queensway Shopping Centre, she said.

The kitten was at least 2m off the ground, judging by the photo and video taken.

"There are two uncles trying to save the kitten, but to no avail," she despaired.

She also wrote: "How can we help the kitten!"

Bringing in the experts

At around 6:30pm, De Choco decided to escalate the matter to the authorities.

She approached the police located in close proximity to Queensway Shopping Centre to appeal for help.

Unfortunately, even though a team was apparently dispatched, they later found that they did not have the right equipment to execute a rescue.

She was given the same response from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), she said.

In response to Mothership's queries, Aarthi Sankar, executive director of SPCA, said that the kitten had "climbed to a height that exceeded the affordances of [their] rescue equipment".

It was time to bring in the experts.

Enter the AVS.

And then there were five

At 8:40pm, De Choco posted an optimistic-sounding update.

"The AVS officer came and is rescuing the kitten!" she wrote.

But to the dismay of the humans, the little kitten decided to climb even further up the tree.

Still determined to bring the cat to safety, the officer informed De Choco that he would call for backup.

Less than an hour later, the back-up arrived and got to work.

A trap was also set at the base of the tree in hopes that the little cat would come down for food or water.

In total, there were now five different teams working to rescue the kitten, including the AVS team, Pest-Pro management teams and the Royal Animal Rescue team.

The surrender

At 11:55pm, the humans finally conceded the battle.

While the AVS team had contacted the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) for help, they too were unable to rescue the kitten.

"NParks mentioned that we should leave the kitten alone as it might be overwhelmed and will climb even higher up," De Choco wrote in resignation.

"Hopefully the kitten will come down on its own."

At that point, the humans had been there for at least six hours.

Mothership has contacted the SCDF for comment.

The loss

The next day, De Choco posted another update.

Both NParks and the Royal Animal Rescue teams had gone to check on the kitten on Mar. 22 morning.

But it was nowhere to be found.

"They believe the kitten might have come down on its own," she wrote.

If that was the case, maybe the kitten didn't need rescuing after all.