Hero has a head for heights and a heart of gold
A Perthshire tree surgeon who has rushed to rescue pets stuck at lofty heights has been hailed for his heroics.
Connor Park, living now at Craigend near Perth, was born and raised in North Muirton.
He left school at 16 and went to work in the family forestry business started by his dad.
Later, with lots of tree work under his belt, he went on to start his own firm, Park Forestry and Landscape Scotland.
Connor is an animal lover himself and with his partner and young son, keeps two horses, two Shetland ponies, four dogs and Zac the cat.
About a year ago he saw Missing Pets Perth and Kinross asking online for a hand getting a cat down which had spent several days stuck in a tree. It was all the way over in Dundee, on a Sunday night, in lashing rain.
“I couldn’t resist the post asking for a tree surgeon or someone with experience of heights. I could see it would be a difficult rescue, but I offered to have a go,” said the young dad.
“I was all set to leave, the truck was packed with the height gear, when I was told it was okay, they’d managed to get the puss down.”
Another SOS came on February 21. Connor was en route to another landscaping job with his assistants Ross and Ryan.
Not one but two inquisitive kittens were trapped high in a tree in the Pitcairngreen area of Perth. The feline sisters had recently been adopted from Cat Protection and had been reared without a mother.
Connor had just brought one kitten down when another was spotted and he had to go back up.
“We received a message from a concerned owner whose kitten got itself stuck up a tree,” said Katie Mccandless-thomas, the Missing Pets page admin.
“Connor who has kindly helped animals previously with us, immediately said he would go out and help get the wee puss down.
“While en route, the kitten’s sibling became concerned with what all the commotion was, and decided to go investigate and also got stuck.
“So Connor and his colleague ended up on a rescue mission for two kittens.
“Thankfully Gremlin and Pixie were relieved to see help had arrived and Connor was able to safely get them down back to their very relieved owner.”
The kittens had already been jointly nicknamed ‘a bundle of nonsense’ by their new family “because they’re daft and really playful.” The couple in Pitcairngreen wrote to thank Connor for giving his work time for free: “We’re so grateful that Missing Pets and Connor and his lovely team were able to get them down with such care and kindness, talking to them the whole time. These wee ones are an important part of our family and are dearly loved.”
Then on March 4, Connor was over at his mother-inlaw’s house in Auchterarder, enjoying a Sunday evening Chinese takeaway when he was needed again – a cat was stuck up a tree, out on a limb, not far away.
The hero rescuer, who was just dressed in a t-shirt and joggers, put down his chop sticks and raced off in the bucketing rain.
“It was pitch black, 9pm, lashing with rain and the tree was very slippy,”recalled Connor, but he climbed up undaunted.
Katie’s Missing Pets team explained how they got Connor’s help in an instant: “Wee Gizmo was stuck 40ft up a tree in the Auchterarder area of Perthshire.
“Connor first had seen the appeal not long after we posted and asked could he be of any help.
“He immediately headed over to help and the high winds and the torrential rain didn’t put him off making sure Gizmo got down safely.
“We need more Connors in the world.”
It was pitch black, lashing with rain and the tree was very slippy