On the fifth day of her cat being stuck high in a tree, Alice Hanks Allen was ready to cut the whole thing down.
The 85-foot spruce proved too tall for a ladder rescue, and the cat, Nicky, could not be coaxed into descent. He was in a pickle, and Allen, 74, was panicking.
It all started last Tuesday, when she had a party at her house on Baxter Lane in northeast Bozeman. Late in the evening, she noticed Nicky was missing. It was normal for the cats to be outside, although neither had ever climbed a tree.
After her guests left, Allen found Nicky when she pointed a flashlight up the tree and saw his glowing eyes. He refused to come down.
“I called and called and called him. I finally had to give up around 1 a.m.,” Allen said.
The next day, he was still there.