Firefighter HURLS a cat after rescuing it from the top of utility pole - VIDEO

KTLA reported that residents called the Los Angeles Fire Department and LADWP to remove the cat, which had been lying on top of a utility pole in the suburb of Sunland.According to an onlooker, a worker sent by LADWP donned gloves and went up in using his truck's extending bucket to pluck the cat from the pole. One witness, Mark, described the worker as being 'gentle' during the rescue, saying 'He coaxed it over to him. He got it in the bucket. He started coming back down.''He stopped about halfway,' said Mark, before taking the cat out of the bucket and dangling it over the edge. In video of the rescue, the worker can be heard telling a woman standing under the pole to get out of the way before tossing the cat towards the grass.The woman is heard screaming before attempting to catch the cat with a green blanket while it zips away into a nearby yard.The utility worker apologized to the crowd, saying 'Sorry, he was really clawing me up there.''I realize he's not a professional cat rescuer, and I thank him for doing the job,' Gail, another onlooker told KTLA. 'For the future it would be great if he could do something, or other people could learn, that if they're going to do a cat rescue, to try to come to the ground level.''The bottom line is that the cat was rescued,' LADWP spokesperson Michelle Figueroa told the Los Angeles Times. 'Staff risked electrocution to save the cat.' Cats have been known to survive extremely high falls, and a study even found that longer falls increased a cat's chances of emerging unharmed.Though onlookers did not have a chance to see what harm befell the rescued feline, veterinarian Peggy Herrera said the animal seemed to have emerged unscathed.'Likely if there had been any significant injury, it wouldn't have skedaddled so quickly,' said Herrera.Bakudaily.Az