Luna comes down to earth in Limburg

LUNA, a cat who belongs to a family in Dilsen-Stokkem (Limburg), recently spent almost six days near the top of a very tall tree.

On March 16 after Luna ignored calls to come down, her owner Eser Melis Ozmen called Maasland Fire Brigade whose rescue unit had no luck in getting her to the ground. The Nature Assistance Centre, which is experienced in persuading stranded cats to come down from trees, also failed to persuade her to descend.

A local tree care company based in Neerpelt, whose professionals are expert climbers, offered to help but had no more success in enticing Luna down from her perch.

After four days it was decided to call off the rescue operation on the advice of the Nature Assistance Centre who explained that for the time being it was preferable to leave Luna alone.

“There’s no need to panic as cats can survive several days without food and water,”

the Centre’s Frederik Thoelen told the VRT broadcaster.

“Once their hunger outweighs their fear, they come down under their own steam.”

Thoelen also recommended that the immediate area should remain as quiet as possible, as the vehicles and onlookers were making Luna  more stressed.

On March 21, the tree-care climber’s second attempt at bringing Luna down got results, although she resisted fiercely as he tried to put her inside a bucket-bag before she was lowered to the ground.

“Luna is doing really well, actually.” Eser told VRT afterwards. “She was incredibly thirsty and had couple of ticks in her coat that I’ve had to take out. But once we were home, she went to straight to her brother and sister and they curled up together.”