Crews attempt to rescue cat stuck in poisonous tree for more than two weeks

The cat has been stuck in the Phoenix Palm for two weeks on Tuesday. Photo / Bevan Conley

Crews are trying to rescue a cat that has been stuck in a poisonous nine-metre tall palm tree in Whanganui for two weeks.

Whanganui's Hayley Jarvis found out about the cat on a Facebook post and has been helping call services to get it down.

"It's a black and white cat, but no one knows whose cat it is," she said.

The phoenix palm has spiky poisonous fronds and is on a Heads Rd property.

"We've had two tree specialists come to look at it. One said 'if you see the cat let me know'. The next lot said they would have to cut the branches off," Jarvis said.

"I'm not feeling very hopeful unless the tree gets cut down or they take all the fronds off.

"The fire brigade [twice] hosed the tree down to try get the cat out.

"It just sits there and cries, poor thing."

Charm Animal Rescue owner Trieste Neilson was next to give the rescue a go by hiring a cherry picker.

"He could have hypothermia, he will be hungry and dehydrated, so we want to get him down," Neilson said.

"It fell this morning to lower branches but then it just climbed back up."

Saul Maintenance and Construction Ltd builder Dion Pointon said they were using the cherry picker to get as close to the cat as possible to catch in a bucket.

"The next thing would be to get a tree stylist in and cut it right back, so we can put a ladder against it and just climb right up."

He said the issue was the potential cost, and who would pay for it.

"The phoenix palm has lots of poisonous prickly bits, it's the most nightmare tree to deal with," Jarvis said.