Thursday, August 19, 1999 Older Editions

Search &rescue

By Joe Viera

Three days after she climbed a tree at 92 Argilla Road, Raita the cat descended, cradled in the right arm of a local arborist.

Since Saturday morning, when the feline scurried up high in the branches of a tree in the backyard of Warren and Lucille Gaffney, Raita had sat patiently overlooking the yard and waiting to be rescued.

John Nardozza, of The Natural Tree Company of Andover, climbs a tree at 92 Argilla Road on Monday afternoon to rescue Raita the cat, who had been there since Saturday morning. Nardozza was contacted after a number of calls to various town departments did not produce any rescue attempts. It took Nardozza 10 minutes to secure Raita and bring her safely back down to earth. Several hours later at Andover Animal Hospital, Raita was reunited with her owner.

"I don't know if it's still alive," said neighbor June Marotta, just as John Nardozza, owner of The Natural Tree Company of Andover, was preparing to climb up after Raita.

Marotta's fears were eased the moment that Nardozza, a Mass. certified arborist, began climbing. A series of frightened meows came from high up in the tree.

Within 10 minutes, Nardozza came back down with one frightened, big-eyed, no-doubt relieved cat in his arms.

The rescue ended 2 1/2 days of frustration for the Gaffneys, who found little concern from the town offices they contacted in search of help.

"We called the police Saturday morning," says Lucille. "They told us that if it climbed up there, it could climb back down."

When the cat did not climb back down, the Gaffneys began to worry. Calls to the town manager's office, the fire department, the town's animal control officer and the MSPCA yielded no assistance for the growing group of concerned neighbors trying to get help for the animal.

"The woman at the town manager's office directed me to the fire department," says Lucille. "But they (fire department) also said that it would climb out on its own and that they wouldn't use their equipment in this situation."

When no one answered at animal control or the MSPCA, a "last resort" was sought, according to neighbor George Marotta.

"I called John (Nardozza) after we had called all the town officials and got 'it will come down on its own,' " says George. "He just finished a tree surgery job at my house a little while ago, so I called his office as a last resort, and he was here in 45 minutes."

For Nardozza, this was not the first time that his profession has called on him to rescue a feline in distress.

"I have done it a few times before. It kind of comes with the territory," he says.

The relieved neighbors were glad that this type of rescue fit Nardozza's job description.

"Without him (Nardozza), we would have been dead - and the cat too!" says June. "We had no way to get the poor thing out. The only reason she survived must be because it rained yesterday. She must have licked the water off of the branch, the poor thing."

The cat was taken by a Townsman photographer to Andover Animal Hospital, where it was retrieved, in good health, within two hours by its owner, David Maihiot of Wild Rose Drive.

Raita has a history of getting herself into trouble, according to Maihiot.

"This is the third time she has been stuck in a tree," he says. "She has no problem going up the trees, but she has a big one coming down. I had to get her out myself once.

"She usually stays within sight of my house when she roams, so I don't know how she got that far away. But we're glad to have her back. We thought she was lost or maybe hit by a car."