On a warm summer night in New York City, a man glanced up at the Brooklyn Queens Expressway expecting to see a pigeon perched above.
Instead, he spotted something much more alarming — a tiny black-and-white kitten curled up on the ledge of the elevated highway, crying out for help.
The little one was trapped, with speeding cars on one side and a 30-foot drop on the other. Passersby quickly called for help, and veteran rescuer John Debacker, vice president of Long Island Cat Kitten Solution, rushed to the scene.
“This was one of my most intense rescues because of the danger involved,” Debacker told The Dodo.
Debacker is used to highway rescues, but this one was different. Instead of being on ground level, the kitten was trapped high up, stranded on a dangerous ledge.
“On one side of him, there were cars whizzing by at like 60 miles per hour,” Debacker said. “On the other side, it was a 20-30 foot drop.”
Knowing the risks, Debacker gathered support from a fellow rescuer, Eddie Stepinski, and some police officers. While strangers below stood ready with a blanket in case the kitten fell, Debacker carefully crept up the expressway.
Luckily, the noise of traffic lulled the kitten to sleep, giving him the chance to grab him.
“The noise from the traffic made it easy to sneak up on him,” Debacker said. “I reached out and grabbed him while he was sleeping,” Debacker said. “He was not happy with me, but I wasn’t letting go for anything.”
The rescued kitten, later named High Wire, was whisked to the vet and found to be in surprisingly good health.
Soon after, he was brought to the Brooklyn Cat Café, where he quickly found his forever family.
Today, High Wire is safe, loved, and just as adventurous as ever — only now he saves his daring stunts for life indoors, curled up with his people instead of teetering on a highway.
“Now he’s home,” Debacker said.
If you’d like to help other cats like High Wire, you can support Long Island Cat and Kitten Solution through donations.
