NEWS AND VIEWS: The news media headlines report on “quick thinking” college students saving the life of this black-and-white cat who fell from the top tier of a college football stadium, about 40 feet to a seated area below. Fortunately, the fans below unfurled an American flag which broke the cat’s fall. It did no more than break the fall because the cat slid out of the flag but as far as we know the cat was unharmed. Of course, the cat panicked and tried to run off but some guys grab the cat and one man held her/him aloft in triumph. The cat still tried to struggle free (normal behavior). They did well but I don’t like what they did in grabbing this cat. I’m sure some of them were scratched. It would have been better to have left her alone.
Also, we don’t know how the cat ended up hanging from what appears to be a cable below this top tier. The video starts after the cat arrives. It would be nice to know why this domestic cat ended up in this stadium hanging from the top tier. What happened beforehand?
Cats are good fallers
See articles below on cats falling…
However, in the title I have suggested that the students could have been even quicker thinking but I’m not criticising because the cat’s life was saved. Cats can fall from these sorts of heights (and higher) and suffer only minor injuries but on this occasion the cat was falling into a seated area and therefore it seems that it was likely she could have been seriously injured or killed if she had made contact with one of the seats.
Could have stopped the fall
I’d like to suggest that the man on the top tier who puts his hand down the side of the barrier (rather meekly), trying to reach the cat, could have done better. He could have taken off his shirt and dangled it down to the cat. The cat was near enough to be able to grab his shirt in her claws. He could then have raised his shirt over the barrier with the cat hanging on. I am convinced that this would have worked and it would have been a better outcome to this emergency. But like I said, this is not a criticism because it is easy to think of these things in retrospect.
It’s remarkable how often community cats get into stadiums populated by large crowds. I have to presume that the cat was there looking for food; as they are stray cats, they are hungry. That seems to be a reasonable assessment. I don’t think a domestic cat would want to be in that kind of place normally because it’s too noisy and unsettling for almost all domestic cats. I’m suggesting that this cat is domesticated but have described her as a ‘community cat’ i.e. living in the community around the stadium.
We are told that a security guard took the cat away and I presume he returned the cat to an area outside the stadium.
The match that was taking place was the Miami Hurricanes’ season-opening college game against Appalachian State. The stadium is the Hard Rock Stadium. All the news media sites are reporting on it if you search for “cat”.
Videos
Note: These are videos from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it. I have included 2 in case one stops.
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