In another only in Avalon moment …
answered the call.
It was a lovely, sunny Saturday afternoon in Avalon. Local business owner Barbara Sherman’s nieces Courtney and Regan Clark were visiting the Island from their homes in Ohio and Washington. They decided it was a perfect time for their 5-mile run as Courtney is in training for her first half-marathon. At about 2 miles in, as they were passing the hillside directly opposite The Wet Spot rental office, they heard crying that they quickly discovered was coming from a distressed kitten who was lost and/or trapped in a thicket of bushes about a third of the way up that less than stable, rocky hillside.
There was no time to spare. Courtney began trying to lure the kitten out of the bushes while Regan was on her Apple Watch arranging back-up from her mom and Donna got on the “island telegraph,” and reached Terri and me. We rushed out to the scene. Upon arriving and making a quick assessment, we realized the situation called for the expertise of an experienced kitten wrangler, so a call was made to, who else but Diane Stone, president of the Avalon Humane Society.
Diane was wrapping up the 10-hour semi-annual Humane Society garage sale but jumped into her Scion anyway and was on-site in about 6 minutes. In the interim a concerned citizen (obviously an experienced hiker whose name was regrettably lost in the excitement), had scaled the side of the mountain and had positioned herself above and behind the thicket to act as a sort of shortstop in case the kitten moved up and out. This woman made some serious efforts to reach the kitten until she had to leave as they made the final call for her boat departure.
As she departed, another good Samaritan, Lars Huston, also in line for a separate boat departure, came over to offer his assistance. He kicked off his sandals, scaled the fence and positioned himself to the left of Diane’s position. Diane attempted to lure the kitten with food, but he/she was just out of her reach. Lars, who was tall and had a pretty good wingspan, thought he could reach into the thicket as he now could see exactly where the kitten was and force it toward Diane. So, barefoot and precariously using the chain link fence for support, he basically dove into the branches and was able to move the kitten enough to where Diane was able to grab it.
This immediately brought enthusiastic cheers from about 100 departing guests in line for a 6:15 p.m. boat who had watched all these efforts for over the a period of 45-50 minutes. Who knew that Avalon was home to the Catalina Island Kitten Search and Rescue Team? A big thank you to the unnamed hiker, and to Diane, Lars, Courtney and Regan for a rescue well done!
