The Shark Comes to the Rescue!

WEST LOS ANGELES – RESCUERS RECEIVE A CALL THAT A CAT HAS BEEN STUCK IN A TREE FOR OVER 18 DAYS – THE AMAZING STORY ABOUT THE CAT AND THE MYSTERY MAN WHO SHOWED UP TO SAVE IT’S LIFE …

We received a call on January 5th, regarding a cat that had gotten stuck in a large redwood tree over 60ft. tall. The cat had been crying for days and the neighbors were baffled on what to do. The cat had been there since December 23 without food or water.

We had tried everything. We had contacted the fire department over 15 times and when they did come out there was nothing they could do. We had called a variety of tree trimming services, roofers with long ladders, rental companies of cherry pickers. and even a stuntman. We were amazed he was still alive, there had been major storms, all that rain, how could he have survived? He must have been so hungry and wet and cold. So we decided to take matters in our own hands.

Most of Los Angeles key cat rescuers had met under the tree Monday January 7th, and had tried in vain to bring this cat down. It was quite a sight, all of us out there with blankets to catch him if he fell, binoculars to see which branch he was going to, Kentucky Fried Chicken in hopes to entice him, a veterinarian standing by to examine him, this wonderful male friend who was willing to climb the large 60ft tree and bring him down to safety. We had thought of everything!

As our friend scaled the tree, the closer he got the further the cat went up. The tree was so dense we needed to have rescuers with binoculars stationed in different areas to point out the new direction the cat had taken as he jumped from delicate branch to branch to avoid the human, however the way he meowed at the top of his lungs you knew he was calling you to please save him. He climbed to the very top of the 60 ft. tree. As he teetered on the top branches, so close yet too far to reach, it was clear the cat that we now call Jack was spooked. Finally our friend built a little platform towards the middle of the tree and we left food and water out for the cat.

As we finally gave up for the evening and went on our separate ways it was pretty obvious that everyone was haunted by the crying of Jack who clearly wanted to come down. We just did not know how we were going to make it happen, and that is when we got a lead to call a man named Shark, we were told he may be able to help. We knew nothing of him, however, we were desperate and time was running out. So we decided to call the mystery man named “Shark”.

Our conversation with him was brief and to the point, he showed extreme confidence in being able to bring the cat down. We pointed out how we had all tried and how difficult it would be and perhaps we should all meet there and go over the details with him. All he wanted was the address and which tree Jack was living in. He said he would call us once he had the cat. We had doubts of his success, but there was an unusual undertone in his voice that gave us some hope. Sometimes you just have to have blind faith. We did not really expect a call the next day, yet we hoped as we called one another to check to see if anyone had heard from this mystery man named “Shark”. By 3 pm that day no one had heard from Shark and our hopes were fading quickly.

At 4:15 we got a call from Shark, he had the cat, it was sitting on his lap in the car and they were driving to the vets to meet us.

We were shocked.

Words cannot express the intense relief we felt and the anticipation of finally meeting this cat who had been on our minds for the last 6 days. Now they were at Wilshire Animal Hospital waiting for us to get there. We could not believe our luck that we were finally going to meet this little cat! Yeah! There was Jack a beautiful gray tabby with white paws, a white chest, and yes it was a boy after all! All of the women had just assumed only a male could possibly get himself in a predicament like this. There was Jack sitting on the vet’s table, enjoying his newly celebrity found status, and more importantly the food! This was Jack’s day, he was surrounded by all of these beautiful women doting over him at the vets with his new friend Shark. Now our new friend and defiantly our hero!

While daytime television knows him as the character Larry Warton on the popular soap “The Young and the Restless” We know him as Shark, our angel that truly gave his all, that scaled a 60ft redwood tree with no safety net and no assistance, that spoke softly to a frighten cat for two hours, then gently scaled back down the tree with one bare hand and carrying Jack in the other as he gently reassured him he was going to be ok. Shark, who jokingly says he was probably a monkey in a past life, who risked his life up there for a cat that he had never met, and yet responded to the cries for help immediately and unconditionally. Yes, that is “Shark” our hero.

Our little friend Jack is in a foster home as of tonight, but he desperately needs a family and a home he can call his own. He is only one year old and is sweet and adorable and should never be let out again to go play in the trees.
For anyone interested in adopting Jack, please contact Feral Cat Alliance at (310) 281-6973

Written by Patty Baret

DAVID SHARK FRALICK
(Larry Warton)
David Shark Fralick rejoined the cast of The Young and the Restless in the year 2000 as Larry Warton. He previously co-starred in the feature film Gone in Sixty Seconds with Nicolas Cage, Desert Heat with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chill Factor with Cuba Gooding, Jr., The Last Days of Frankie the Fly with Dennis Hopper, Assassins with Sylvester Stallone and Lockdown . In addition, David appeared in Night Hunter, Fist of the North Star, Without Warning, Soultaker, Dark Rider, Dilemma, The Big Easy, Downward Angel and The Legend of Wolf Mountain . He has appeared on stage in regional productions of Butterflies Are Free, Of Mice And Men, The Glass Menagerie and American Buffalo . When David is not working, he spends time with his new puppy — and rescuing cats that have gotten trapped in large redwood trees.