A pair of Rockingham women received a show of corporate chivalry from Superior Cranes Wednesday when the company sent a crane and two operators to save their cat from a pine tree behind their house on Pickett Street.

Mattie the cat was adopted by Cara Russ and Tosha Johnson about two weeks ago. They found her Friday stuck 40 to 50 feet in the air and the couple hadn’t been able to get the kitty down.

“I called everybody, 911, the fire department ... and nobody would help us,” Russ explained.

She said the pair even flagged down a Time Warner truck, but the driver said the cat was too high in the tree for them to reach.

That’s where Superior Cranes and its employee, Chris “Rooster” McIntyre came in to the picture and played the role of hero.

“We try to help our neighbors out,” McIntyre said. “Richmond County is what originally made Superior Cranes, and we just try to give back to the community and those that need help.”

As McIntyre discussed the predicament with the women, Mattie could be heard crying, and seen going from one branch to another looking for an escape route.

When the crane was being lifted with McIntyre in the bucket, Russ and Johnson stood in the yard with their heads tilted back watching.

Neighbors also gathered in the yard to watch.

However, as with any good deed, there were obstacles along the way.

“I just hope she’ll be all right,” Johnson said, with her other cat sitting in the window. “I’m more the cat person, and I was considering climbing the tree to get her down myself, but the extension ladder wouldn’t reach the lowest branch.”

Once McIntyre was elevated beside the tree, the cat became frightened and wouldn’t come to him.

After some wrangling, they finally got the cat, which as the bucket was being lowered jumped and fell about 20 feet, hit the ground and took off running, escaping from the fenced-in backyard.

Once again, the hunt was on for the cat, and finally Mattie was reunited with her owners after a short search.

The whole process, from the crane arriving to the reunion, took about two and a half hours.

For McIntyre, it was all in a day’s work, and helping a neighbor.

“We’re just glad somebody came and helped us,” Russ said Thursday morning. “We brought her home and she was fine. She was just scared.”

Russ said the cat came straight in the house, used the litter box and slept most of the evening.

Gandy Animal Hospital Veterinary Assistant Brenda Parker explained “dogs and cats are pretty tough,” and despite spending days in the tree, she wouldn’t expect her to have lingering effects.

“The people who were trying to save the cat were probably more stressed out than the cat,” she said. “The cat was probably thinking, ‘I need to get away from these folks,’ while they were trying to get her out of the tree.”

Parker said dogs and cats “have something special that God gave them and He didn’t give us.”

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.