Tails of Topanga #1, Topanga Messenger, March 6, 2003

What is it to be a part of Topanga Animal Rescue? Is it the two a.m. call from a man in tears whose favorite duck seems not to be herself. Is it sleepily forcing your leg into your pants for wet bird collecting and attempting to calm the hyperventilating man on the other end of the phone. Asking for the nearest cross street and he gives the full address--blah blah Nevada. Okay, got it. Then slowly it sinks in ....Nevada? you exclaim, oh sorry we only do Topanga. And, Yes, yes, Topanga Animal Rescue is listed on the internet....  Imagine, brrrrinnng, brrring--'Should I divorce my husband who does not like my parrot.'  You explain that relationship counseling is out of your area of expertise.
      Topanga Animal Rescue is really about the busy procession of wounded possums, orphaned birds, lost kitties, baby squirrels, hurt dogs that we help each year. It has reached the stage where my ever patient composer husband, Ken Mazur,  has actually become adept at giving fluids, holding bleeding birds, stretching fractious cats and netting viscous dogs.  And where would I be without the constant support of my wonderful friend Dr. Janet Meyerhoff who I have dragged to various unforgiving areas of the canyon on her own time to treat or humanely euthanise those beyond help. And of course, the latest rescue recruit, our one and a half year old, James, who could say kitty, bird and make hoofed creature sounds before he could say Mama!

What is it to be a part of Topanga Animal Rescue?  Here is the first of our  'Tails of Topanga’.

Whose Cat Is This Anyway?
I received a call from a woman up Entrada who informed me that a cat had been stuck up a cypress tree for five days. It seems that Blackie, as she had called it, was up the tree the day she left on vacation. She assumed that as usual he would come down, but on her return Blackie was still in the tree top meowing weakly. It had been over 100ºF for days, so by the time I arrived my concern was that he would be so dehydrated that he might not make it.  Animal control was called to loop the Cyprus, pull it over and bag the cat. Sounds easy in principle but it didn't work. Next the local Fire Dept. was called but they did not have a ladder. A fire crew from the Valley did come but their ladder could not reach either.
      As I drove up on the seventh day disheartened, I noticed a Cal trans crew.  Eureka!!  Perhaps they would rescue Blackie with their cherry picker. But their truck could not make it up the narrow driveway to the tree and of course there was some legal issue they were grumbling about. But I had also noticed a Caltrans worker high up a pole with cleats. Aha! Perhaps he would like to make a quick forty dollars on his lunch break? At high noon, with capture bag slung on his back, he promptly ascended the swinging cypress tree to a height of fifty feet. But Blackie panicked and went up another five feet to the very pointed top of the swaying tree. It seemed impossible, but our Caltrans hero climbed after him with the tree swinging six feet each way and bagged Blackie. He repelled down and in less than ten seconds they were both safe on the ground. After a quick thanks, I brought Blackie to the nearest house and administered fluids. Lighter by a few lives but in remarkably good shape,
he drank freely from a small bowl and devoured two tins of cat food.
    Now to find his owner. A sign had been put up on Entrada but we had no bites, so to speak.  He was relaxing in the recuperation shed when I received a call from a woman saying he was her cat and his name was Shadow.  It was not unusual for 'Shadow ' to go on jaunts and stay out for days so she had not been concerned. They were promptly reunited and on their way.
     I then received another call from a woman claiming he was her cat and his name was Midnight.  He was always away on jaunts for days and she had also not been concerned. Then a third call came in from a woman claiming that he was her Sooty and she was accustomed to him wondering off for days. Hmmm?
     Well, it turns out that for three years Blackie, alias Shadow, alias Midnight, alias Sooty has lived at all three houses sleeping with each lady on her bed for a few days at a time and moving on.  "And this isn't even Utah," I thought!
      Thankfully, Blackie, Shadow, Midnight, Sooty, perhaps more appropriately named Don Juan, is on the move once again, another amazing Tail of Topanga.

Stay tuned for the next episode.