“It was terrifying to witness …”
It was less than an hour before sunset in early January 2025, when the folks at Greenpoint Cats received an alarming message from a Good Samaritan named Jacob. Jacob was desperate for help after discovering a stray cat perched on the edge of the 50-foot-tall Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York City.
The Greenpoint Cats team rushed to the highway, towering over a busy street below, and was shocked to find a young black-and-white kitten stuck on the ledge, surrounded by danger.
“The kitten had been perched there for [six] hours, with traffic whizzing by on one side and a 50 [plus] foot drop on the other (into more traffic),” Greenpoint Cats wrote on Instagram. “It was terrifying to witness and, obviously, even more terrifying for the kitten.”
Greenpoint Cats sent urgent pleas for help from the community and local law enforcement. While they waited for police officers and firefighters to arrive, a crowd gathered on the street directly below the cat.
“So many people showed up by foot, by bike and by car! Including two volunteers from Puppy Kitty NYC,” Becky Wisdom, president of Greenpoint Cats, told The Dodo. “Dozens of people showed up to help, including enough cars to help divert traffic so that we could safely gather below the cat with the safety ‘net.’ I knew it would be dangerous for a civilian to attempt to do the same thing on the busy elevated highway above, so I called our friends at the precinct for help, and thankfully, they got there quickly and diverted traffic safely.”
The crowd below prepared for the worst-case scenario, positioning themselves to catch the kitten in case she fell. Luckily, an NYPD officer and cat parent from Brooklyn’s 94th Precinct soon arrived at the overpass with a hopeful plan.
“Officer Hernandez used a large dog carrier tipped on its side (opening facing the sky) and quickly pushed the kitten from where [she] was perched into the carrier, and closed it,” Wisdom said.
The cat, later named Perry, was relieved to have been saved from the ledge. Although still bewildered by the event, Perry was on her back and receiving belly rubs from her rescuers within two hours of her rescue.
Puppy Kitty NYC took Perry into their care, vowing to find her a foster home and, hopefully, a forever family. As time passed, however, Perry’s initial shock wore off, and her timidness around humans set in. She no longer allowed her rescuers to give her belly rubs, but they refused to give up on her.
“Once rescued … Perry remembered she’s a kitten who is very fearful of humans! Not unlike a lot of kittens [who] grow up on the street with minimal human interaction, Perry did not want to be touched or handled by people,” Wisdom said. “We knew she would need time in a foster home to build trust and let down her defenses.”
You can see Perry’s timid behavior here:
Instead of ignoring Perry, the Puppy Kitty NYC crew became determined to find the right foster home for her. They soon enlisted the help of Alyssa from Adoptables NYC, who dedicated her time to gaining Perry’s trust.
“After several offers, she finally decided to try the Churu,” Adoptables NYC wrote on Instagram. “I talk to her in a low voice and give her soft, blinky eyes. I keep [petting her with a back scratcher] a few times a day for short periods. [Now], she’s out of her cubby and feeling a little more comfortable.”
You can see Perry’s transformation here:
Perry eventually came around to her foster mom’s advances and has been thriving ever since.
“She is doing so well, allowing [people to pet her] and purring,” Meagan from Puppy Kitty NYC told The Dodo.. “[She’s] really ready for a home!”
See the latest Perry update here:
Perry is officially ready for adoption and hoping to find the perfect permanent home soon. According to Meagan, the ideal family for Perry would be one with another young cat to play with.
The resilient cat looks forward to meeting her forever family one day. Until then, she’ll keep soaking up all the love from her adoring foster mom and feeling grateful that so many compassionate people stopped to help her that fateful January evening.
