A relieved mum has told how a six-day search for the family’s missing moggy ended with a daring Tarzan-style rescue from a huge conifer tree.

Jodie Lumbis posted a plea on Facebook for help in finding eight-month-old kitten Oreo after she failed to return to her home on the Sawbridge Park estate in Sawbridgeworth last Tuesday (Feb 6).

“She never leaves the house – we just thought she’d be back,” said Jodie. “She sleeps with my daughter Jasmine, who suffers from anxiety. When we got to Wednesday, Jasmine was in bits.”


Eight-year-old Jasmine was delighted to get her pet kitten Oreo back

Jodie spent hours looking for Oreo, launching searches after dropping off her children to school and not stopping until it was time to pick them up.

Then on Monday evening (February 12), after Oreo had been missing nearly a week, a neighbour told Jodie she might want to look by a gate in an alley near her home.

When Jodie got there she could hear her kitten miaowing but could not see her. Then she realised the cat’s cries were coming from a huge conifer.

She called the children’s father and he took on the task of rescuing the miserable moggy, who was tangled up in the tree. “He was like Tarzan,” said Jodie. “He climbed up and got her.”

On Oreo’s return, Jasmine, 8, could sleep soundly again and the rest of the family, George, 5, and Ava-Rose, 3, were delighted they could once more give their kitten a cuddle.