Cat Plunges 19 Stories From High-Rise, and Walks Away
Sugar, a white furry cat who is deaf, plunged 19 floors from a window in a high-rise building in Boston and - aided by her fall into a tiny mulch patch and the feline’s ability to glide a la the “flying squirrel” - lived to walk another day, animal rescue officials say.
A woman in the West End building said she saw a “white streak” go by her window early Wednesday afternoon and then saw Sugar after she hit the ground, said Mike Brammer, assistant manager of the animal rescue services department at the Animal Rescue League of Boston.
“You could see the impact crater where she actually did hit the ground and she actually lost some fur in the hole, too,” Brammer said.
The cat’s small landing spot is surrounded by brick and concrete.
“Whether cats can sometimes aim, so if it did it itself or if it was a combination of luck or both … it managed to hit that small patch of mulch, so it was very soft ground,” he said.
After bouncing up from her fall of 150-200 feet, Sugar ran near the building, rather than out onto the nearby highway.
“Instead of, you know, being scared and just running out into traffic, she somehow hit the best spot and stayed near the building,” he added. “So it was very fortuitous on many different levels.”
Sugar, who was tended to by the building concierge before rescue officials arrived, suffered a small cut on her lip and a little bruising, including some to her lungs.
“Considering what she had been through, she was in really good shape,” he said.
The feline, about 4.5 years old, was aided in her fall by dynamics akin to the “flying squirrel” phenomenon, Brammer said.