Biloxi tree climber rescues cats stuck in trees

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - One Biloxi man with the right skillset is becoming increasingly popular throughout South Mississippi for his unique hobby and the good it can do.

His name is Blake Steinwinder, but many people know him as “That Tree Guy.”

From Biloxi, Steinwinder began climbing trees at a young age in Pass Christian.

“I was kind of like a meerkat,” he told WLOX. “I would find the biggest, tallest pine tree. I would climb up one, scan, see which one’s the tallest, and I would do this. And I would go up there and I would just sit in these trees.”

It’s the bird’s eye view above the canopy that he loves.

“It’s quiet and the bugs can’t reach you up there at all.”

Steinwinder was trained on the job as a tree trimmer and had mastered climbing within about 10 months. Then, he received a call to help save a cat that was stuck in a tree for 6 days.

That was two years ago, and since then, he’s rescued 17 cats across the Coast.

“You’d be surprised at how many cats get stuck up trees,” he said. “There’s a lot that I can’t even get to. It’s a pretty common thing. I didn’t even realize that when I became a tree climber.”

While retrieving the animals may be the right thing to do, it’s also a risky business.

“If you call the fire department, will the fire department come? They may, but they may not,” said Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan. “That’s up to the policy of that particular fire department.

Sullivan has responded to a number of cat-astrophies such as this one throughout his career. ”If we can get to the cat and we can help, then we absolutely will try,” he said. “But there’s times when the cat is just too high in the tree or we can’t get close enough to it with the trucks.

Sullivan said he welcomes the assistance from professional climbers like Steinwinder.

“We’re glad that somebody would step forward and say, ‘I’m going to try to help in this kind of situation,’” said Sullivan.

But remember: safety comes first. If you do not have the right training, you’re encouraged to call someone who does.

“Every single tree is practice,” Steinwinder added. “Every tree is a different tree. It’s always a different climb. It’s never the same thing.”

That Tree Guy operates on donations alone. If you would like to show support for his animal rescue mission, he says the best way to do it is through his CashApp, $13lake13.

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