This story kind of makes me happy. When I was a kid, our cat got stuck in an elm tree taller than our house. My mom called the fire department to ask for their help, and their response was, "Lady, you've been watching too many cartoons." With neighbors' help we managed to get the cat down. Someone offered, of all things, a *crossbow*, which we used to get a rope over the limb the cat was on; we used the rope to raise a cardboard box with a plate of tuna in it, the cat got in to the box, and we lowered her back down. But she was up there a long time, more than a week, before we managed to get her back down, and we were really getting desperate. I'm glad the internet is making this easier!