Branch saves cat in 17-story plunge

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A cat's last-second grasp of a tree branch is credited with saving its life just before it ended a 17-story fall from an apartment west of Toronto.

Building superintendent Daniel Ambaye told the Toronto Sun he found the cat in a messy apartment its owners had abandoned in Mississauga. He spotted the black and white cat in a bedroom as he surveyed the mess, and said he backed away so as not to frighten it.

Then, he heard a "terrible, loud screeching noise" as the cat went out the unscreened window.

Ambaye said he expected the worst when he got to the ground, but the cat was lying dazed and injured, clutching a piece of branch that had broken its fall.

He said he took the cat inside and cleaned its wounds and called animal authorities. However, he said it took more than half an hour before the cat would let go of the branch, he told the Sun.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals picked up the cat, and spokeswoman Alison Cross said it would survive.

Meanwhile, she said charges will be filed against the people who abandoned it.